


Lords of the Old Republic - Episode One: The Invisible War

by SpartanAltego



Series: Lords of the Old Republic [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, POV Second Person, POV Third Person Limited, Roleplay Logs, Roleplaying Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:15:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 28,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27252532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpartanAltego/pseuds/SpartanAltego
Summary: Peace is a lie. The Sith Empire swept aside the opposition of the Jedi Order and nearly conquered the Republic, before falling apart through infighting and being assimilated into the Galactic power structure. Two hundred years later, a Sith Lord finds her new apprentice in the spice mines of Kessel - a boy with a great destiny that will take him from the chains of slavery to the heights of freedom.
Series: Lords of the Old Republic [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989856





	1. Prologue: The Heir to Darkness (Part I)

**Star Wars**

**Lords of the Old Republic**

Prologue: The Heir to Darkness

GRMM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC6A2musf9c

**It is dark in the spice mines of Kessel.**

**Spice, a galaxy-wide desired drug product known for its myriad sub-brands and narcotic highs, is activated by light. To mine it, one must carefully extract the threads of spice from the rock in complete, total darkness, or under the dimmest possible red lights so that stray photons do not trigger the unrefined material and thus use up valuable product. The work is exhausting and time-consuming, and the stray bits of spice thread broken up and flung out by the large hand-held drills used by miners are sharp as a vibroblade's edge and can easily remove digits or poke out an eye.**

**It is dark in the spice mines of Kessel.**

**Harder perhaps than even the physical labor of the work is the psychological toll. Few work willingly in the spice mines of the galaxy, and none so in the dark caverns of Kessel. Slave life is taxing and dehumanizing, and in the dark of the spice caves were it not for the constant ache in one's bones and the muddy taste of recycled oxygen coming through one's breathing apparatus, it would be difficult to believe one lived at all. For life in a spice mine is no life at all, but a never-ending trial that ultimately arrives at only one destination.**

**It is dark in the spice mines of Kessel.**

**This is your life. This is where you live. This is where you will die.**

**You are Irah Thal, a young boy sold into slavery at an age so early you remember no longer life - by your own family, you were told, and for the price of a single Bantha. You awaken from a dreamless sleep to the ear-ringing sound of the morning horn signaling the first shift of work for your slave group. As you blink sleep away you see the other slaves rising from their stone beds and pulling on their mining equipment and masks, waiting for the sealed lock on the chambers to disengage and expose the room to Kessel's thin air.**

Mindlessly going through the motions was the rite of morning. Or was it morning? Ah, not that it mattered, down there where the sunlight didn't even reach. That was just the way everyone had to cope in this place. Get dressed and geared like a droid, and reticently march into that pit of darkness, day after day. Everyone was so numb that no one ever really noticed how Irah's mask almost seemed to float into his hand, even if it was only a centimeter or two. Not even he did, really.

As everyone got up and ready in front of the chamber lock, Irah stood beside an old Bothan man, who had been in there since way before the cub even arrived on this planet. The man was always in a pissy mood. Just a Bothan thing, someone else had told him. Irah looked at the old man's missing fingers, one in his left hand and two in his right.

He always thought it would be awkward to comment on it, but man, did he find it hard to shut up when he came up with a quip. "You wan' me to be your walkin' stick, gramps?" he asked almost innocently, pointing at his own eyes through the mask. "Beats drilling spice for the fourth time this week."

**The Bothan upraises his snout at you, sneering through his obvious fatigue and exposing large teeth. "I'd prefer a beatin' stick right about now, boy," he growls, fur rippling in irritation. "You volunteering?"**

**The airlock hisses just as the last few stragglers quickly put on their breathing masks, and the group begins to shuffle out into the equipment lockers to grab their drills and await location assignment. The Transdoshan guards, numbering at a half-dozen, stand on balconies overhead, save for one who walks with the Master on the floor.**

**Master U'ppek, a Sullustan male of middle-age, always observed the slaves personally before work, walking between them and examining their "attitudes" as part of his ritual - he claimed it was because he could smell dissent in an unruly worker. Those he deemed dissenting disappeared, and new slaves took their place.**

"Jeez," he quietly murmured in response to gramps aggressiveness. And there he was offering to do him a favor. Oh well....

He didn't lag behind to grab his gear. This was all part of the same morning rite that preceded every day of labor. Irah knew master U'ppek's intentions well. The man had told him about it all, that one time he sent for him to give him a "treat" for his hard work. A somewhat rancid piece of dried meat, which was still a top tier delicacy when all you ate every day was sludge. He wasn't sure if master U'ppek even knew he could see in the dark, but he wasn't going to tell him that either.

As the Sullustan walked between his slaves, Irah stood straight, acting ready for work. He knew the old guy liked it when he bowed slightly as he walked past him, so he did. Immediately after, he stood at ease, straight as an arrow once more. He knew some of the others really hated that, but hey, the others probably hadn't tasted dried meat in a good decade.

**U'ppek pauses before you, taking notice of your deferential attitude, and you see a hint of a smile behind the transparent material of his breathing mask. He moves on without a word, but you don't doubt that you've netted some points today. Perhaps he'll give you another treat later, if you can mine enough spice to meet your quota.**

**Some of the other slaves are looking at you with a Look again. They dislike your suck-up attempts. Or rather, your consistent success at them. "Look at the master's cat, all nice and perky..." someone mutters.**

**You are given your location in the tunnels - sector 313A, a dangerous area for its frequent energy spider appearances - and are given leave to go.**

The good thing about wearing a mask was that it hid the smug expression on his face. Not because he was proud of being the "master's cat," though he didn't really care if they called him that. But he enjoyed it when the others got mad at him, because there was nothing they could do. And when they tried, he always managed to talk them out of it. It made him feel a sliver of power in the depths of the caves.

Deep down he knew it was a lie, but he tried really hard to sell it to himself. And when he started to actually buy into the idea that he had any modicum of influence over his own fate, no worries, he'd soon be made to eat off the floor, or whipped for a ruined spice thread, or forced to work 3 days in a row without food. The mines had their own charming way to pull you back down to reality.

And today had the possibility of being one of those days, what with the energy spiders and all. It sure as hell was not an area fit for a twelve-year-old to work in, but master U'ppek sure as hell didn't give a wamprat's ass about that. He simply sticked to the group as they marched to their sector. Not really saying a word, as he knew they hated him right now. Whatever, they'd get over it by the end of the day.

**You get to your position and go to work in the dim red light, your Cathar eyesight providing you a sight advantage that had ensured you had avoided the unfortunate fates of some of the other slaves and not drilled your own fingers by accident. Better still, you could more easily see the thickest veins and threads of spice and maximize your gains per hour.**

**With the nearest other slave a good dozen feet away, you select a thread and begin to follow it down into the tunnels, adding your harvest to sealed cannisters that you mark with your slave ID - PROTAG1 - and leave for collection by the patrolling Transdoshans.**

**After two hours, even your developed arms feel limp and unbearably sore. But still you persist - you have two more hours yet before your five-minute break - and your cannister count steadily grows.**

**A small squeak perks your left ear up as you change the tip of your drill.**

Sometimes Irah would look up to the nearest slaves, just to get a look at how they were going. He had sometimes warned one or two about their fingers being about to be drilled off if he noticed. The early warning had earned him their favor, at least for a couple weeks, and a good defense when the pissier slaves got fed up with his suck-ups. Watch each other's backs and all.

He really hoped it would be one of those days today. The squeak made him jump the slightest bit, and he immediately looked around, hoping it wasn't a squeaky spider.

"Uh.... " He gulped in the silence. "Do spiders squeak?"

**Your Cathar eyesight sharpens in response to your fear, and you can make out the small, spindly shape of an energy spider on the ground, beady eyes looking back up at you. The spider is barely the size of your thumb, a baby by any measure, and is staring with pleading eyes at your latest harvest of spice. It squeaks again and jumps up once in the air.**

"O-oh," he sighed with relief. "Y-you're not so bad," he quipped quietly at the baby, though once he noticed it was looking at the spice, he held his cannisters high so that the spider's tiny jumps wouldn't reach it. "This what you want?"

**"Squeak! Squeak-squeak!!"**

**The spider flails its tiny legs.**

Irah takes a step back, holding the cannisters higher still. He was slightly alarmed that the tiny thing seemed so intent on getting that spice. "Hey! S-stop! This is mine!"

**Bizarrely, the spider stops flailing and goes still, watching you silently.**

**Almost as if it understood you.**

Oh. Good. And here he was starting to get scared...

**You cautiously go back to work with the spider continuing to watch you, occasionally pausing to ensure it does not go for your spice cannisters while you are not looking. As you move deeper down the tunnels the spider follows you and hops up onto the threads of spice adjacent to your drill, feeding off the line with small but hyper-sharp teeth, making pleased squeaks as it does. Lines of thread begin to be spun from its body, faintly luminescent in the red light.**

**Glitterstim! A rare kind of spice spun when energy spiders ate spice! It was incredibly valuable and slaves were sent into spider nests to harvest webs often at the loss of many lives just for a few handfuls of the stuff. The spider finishes spinning its web and pauses, then begins searching for another line of thread to consume.**

Irah looked at the spider with awe, letting out a quiet "woah" as the glittering thread came out. He followed the spider with his eyes as it crawled away from what was now a gift to him. He had just decided that.

He looked around, making sure no one saw, and then grabbed the Glitterstim and put it in a cannister as sneakily as he could, not saying a word. He continued to look at the spider. He wanted to thank her, but he didn't want the other slaves to know...

_Come on, little spider, make some more glittery thread..._

**The little energy spider begins chewing on another thread of spice, but it appears to be having difficulty penetrating the rock layer to get to the pure substance beneath. It squeaks in frustration and looks at you beseechingly.**

Did.... did the spider notice that he was drilling the rock? Man, were bugs like this always this smart? The roaches back at the bunkers were just idiots that ran into people's soles all the time.

"Well... good thing I just changed my drill. Move out, little guy," he whispered as he leaned into the rock, drilling a little bit, until the spice was exposed.

He wondered if this was alright... should he be letting the spider eat the spice? Maybe master U'ppek wouldn't like it...

Bah, of course he would. Glitterstim was like... way more valuable. Right? At least that's what another slave had told him. The boss would love it. Maybe he'd even give him new clothes...

**The spider happily devours the spice and produces even more glitterstim webbing, and the two of you fall into a routine for the next two hours wherein you drill the rock and allow the spider to feed, then harvest the webbing in exchange. Eventually, the spider appears to grow tired and hops off the wall to the floor, where it lays flat on its belly and rests.**

**You continue working with your drill and placing spice into your cannisters, until after eight hours of work your shift comes to an end and you begin to pack up and head back to your quarters for lunch. You are given pause when you hear an insistent squeaking and see the energy spider has begun to follow you. It looks up at you quietly, blinking its eight eyes.**

"Oh... uh... hi." Yes, that's what you say after eight hours together. "I, uh, I gotta go, okay? But thanks for the threads!" He looked back towards the other slaves, trying to make sure no one saw him talking to a freaking spider. "So, uh... I'll see you around! Uh... bye!" He turned, walking towards the rest of the group, but inevitably ended up looking back to see if the baby was following him.

**The baby is indeed following you.**

"N-no, you can't follow me!" He tries to shoo the baby away as he takes a couple more steps towards the groups. "If they find you we'll both be in trouble... I don't know if master U'ppek..."

Or, wait.

Maybe having his own little pet spider would be even better. If he remained friends with the baby, maybe he could tell the boss that he could keep on getting Glitterstim, and maybe he'd even give him his own room. Maybe...

"A-alright... but you gotta be quiet..." He leaned down, extending his palm towards the tiny animal for it to hop on. "If the others find out, I'm gonna get skinned."

**The baby quietly hops onto your hand and settles flat on its belly, closing its eyes. You hide it in the pocket of your underclothes and return to quarters, where you find your lunch waiting for you - nutrient sludge, water, and a single stick of dried Bantha meat - another reward for your deferential behavior, it would seem. You can only imagine what your reward will be tomorrow when your cannisters have been processed and the glitterstim tallied up.**

**When you go to bed, you keep the energy spider in your underclothes pocket and sleep on your back so as to avoid rolling over and squishing the little guy. You close your eyes. You dream...**

**_You float in the space between everything and nothing, where perception is fluid and belief determines reality. You float between the novas of exploding stars and the infinite yawning dark of black holes, breathe in the void of space and suffocate in the open air of the meadows, until after what seems an age you float through space long enough to arrive at a bright golden planet. You float through atmosphere and land within a palace of stone, feet touching the hard, smooth floor. It does not occur to you that you should not know what the sky is, having never seen it, or for that matter the world at all beyond the mines of Kessel, and indeed none of it seems strange to you but rather natural._ **

**_Light beneath your feet. You look down to see you are standing on an engraved mural that bleeds ancient power and light, depicting three figures - a Father, a Son, a Daughter. Their stone eyes shift to meet your own and you are transported among the stars, among oceans filled with grand creatures, forests of glowing flora and fauna, and an ancient archway carved with eldritch symbols..._ **

**When you awaken, the dream has half-faded from your mind. But you can't help but feel as if you have not forgotten anything, but merely stored the remembrance away for later. The other slaves are dressing for work.**

Irah lies in bed for a moment, lost in the waning memories of his dreams of horizons far, far from what he will ever know. The one image that vividly seemed to be burned into the eye of his mind was the sky. Was that the sky? It was the sky, wasn't it?

The sky was beautiful.

He didn't notice that he had paused for way longer than he should have, and suddenly remembered that he had slept with the spider in his pocket. He quickly sat up, frantically looking for the baby in his clothes.

**The baby is sleeping soundly, safe and secure.**

The lets out a sigh of relief, then hurries up to get dressed and geared up for work, trying to shake the sluggishness of mornings off.

And yet, in the middle of his hurry, his mind kept wandering back to the sky.

**For the next two weeks, you and your pet spider go to work in the mines, producing glitterstim and spice in equal measure for your master's profits. You are rewarded with better meals and even a new set of clothes and an improved breathing mask that better oxygenates your lungs and leaves your head feeling clearer.**

**The other slaves grow restless around you, and more than once you have to quickly hide your spider when their eyes wander over to you, trying to discern where you are getting your surplus from. But you get by, and with each week the tiny spider grows a little bigger, beginning at the size of your thumb, then twice the size, then thrice the size.**

**On your third week, disaster strikes.**

**"Some among you have been taking spice for yourselves," Master U'ppek declares loudly, flanked on either side by Transdoshans. "Using product - _my_ product - to selfish ends, denying me my bottom-line promised by your purchase. This is theft. And theft will not be tolerated in my mines. All of you, line up and turn out your pockets."**

He- he didn't mean the glitterstim, did he? He had been giving all the glitterstim to U'ppek after all. He had been getting all these new, better things too! He surely couldn't mean him.

But if they found the spider...

The boy nervously lines up with the rest of the slaves, trying to get the spider to crawl out onto his hand so he could hide her on his back. Or something. Anything. U'ppek was coming closer, and he could feel his heart racing faster. He still had his hand in his pocket, waiting for the spider to come out. "Come on..." he whispered to himself.

**You try to encourage the spider to come out, growing more frantic as U'ppek draws nearer. Two slaves away, one slave away...**

**The energy spider pokes its head against your hand and squeaks curiously.**

**U'ppek pauses in his inspection of the slave next to you, turning his large black eyes your way. "Irah, mmm? What is it you have in your pocket making all that noise?"**

**He extends a hand, palm open, and makes a "come hither" gesture. "Now then. Show me what you've got."**

Irah gulps, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room gravitating towards him, some of them even smiling at the mere thought of the little master's cat being the thief.

The boy takes a couple shy steps towards U'ppek, and hesitates for a couple of seconds. The was not much he could do now, was there.... He slowly pulls the spider out, holding it in his palm with his head hanging low, but his eyes trying to look up at the older man. "I-I... I found her in the mines, s-sir..." he explains as the spider squeaks timidly.

**U'ppek recoils immediately, and the Transdoshans raise their ion blasters - at you and at the spider in your hands. "Ah! What madness compelled you to bring a spider into the slave quarters, boy?! It could kill the entire slave populace of this sector dead."**

**The spider squeaks and attempts to hide herself, climbing up your arm and onto your shoulder, followed by the barrels of the Transdoshans' blasters. Master U'ppek's expression grows pensive. He narrows his eyes. "So this is where you have been getting the glitterstim. How interesting..."**

**He steps forward, pausing when the energy spider squeaks indignantly, and chuckles. "As always, you prove a worthy investment, Irah. I - "**

**The door to the slave quarters slides open, and a dark robed figure strides in, flanked by two Transdoshans with their blasters trained...on her. The woman, a Human with strange black markings on her face and acid yellow eyes, flicks her hand and somehow the two guards go flying in either direction, slamming into the walls with a sickening pair of crunches. All blasters are turned on her.**

**She raises an eyebrow. "U'ppek Savhun. I do not like to be kept waiting."**

**"L-Lord Gelus!" Master U'ppek bows his head. "If I had known, I would have allowed you in immediately. I apologize profusely for-"**

**"Enough," Lord Gelus waves her hand. "Is this the stock?"**

**"Yes. These are the crop I believe most suited for your selection."**

**Lord Gelus' molten eyes run over the collection of slaves, over you, smoothly and without pause. "How...impressive." Her tone drips with icy sarcasm.**

All the guns being aimed at him was definitely a very scary moment, but his heartbeats were starting to slow down a little bit by the time U'ppek decided not to have him shot immediately. But any semblance of relief was immediately washed away by the sudden appearance of the incredibly scary lady. The fact that master U'ppek had suddenly shrunk at the mere sight of her didn't really help with the intimidation.

Irah instinctively took a step back, not saying a single word, but visibly scared. Or confused? All of it really.

**"They are all of excellent stock," Master U'ppek promises, coming to Gelus' side as she examines the slaves. "Strong, clever, loyal..."**

**"So loyal as to steal from you?" Gelus queries, extending a long finger to point at the old cantankerous Bothan to your right. "Him. He's been using spice. He has it hidden in the lining of his left shirt sleeve."**

**The Bothan opens his mouth to protest, but the cry dies in his throat as he sees the murderous glare levied upon him by the Master. "M-Master, please. I only wanted a reprieve from the hardship of the day. I took very little, nothing that would be missed!"**

**"Gandrel, take him away," U'ppek jerks his head in disgust, and one of the Transdoshans grabs the Bothan by the arm and begins to drag him away, his cries disappearing into the distance...**

**Lord Gelus turns to U'ppek. "So. You were talking about loyalty. Yet I see none."**

**"I assure you, the rest are the pinnacle of loyal. And obedient! Look." U'ppek turns to you. "Boy. Come here."**

Irah gulps, almost frozen in place. It takes the boy a good three or four seconds to even begin to move, which he does with hesitation in each of his steps. The disgruntled looks that every other slave shoot at him for being "the example specimen" don't help either.

He opens his mouth as if to say something, but the piercing gaze of the lady stops him for a moment. He clears his throat, and inadvertently tries to hide his spider friend with one hand. "Y-yes, sir."

**U'ppek takes you by the shoulder, smiling in a way that doesn't reach his empty dark eyes. "You, now, Irah, you are the zenith of all a servant should be. Bright, eager to work, and obedient to a fault - if such a thing were to be possible. You would do anything I asked without hesitation, wouldn't you?"**

The boy flinches slightly when he feels the hand of the man on his shoulder. The sudden touch almost made him feel sick to his stomach, just thinking of what he was going to say next. What he had to say next. He didn't want to say yes, he had only obeyed because it was the best he could do for his own sake. He faked everything, and U'ppek had bought all of it. But this woman, Lord Gelus, he could feel her eyes piercing into his, and he had a feeling she wouldn't buying it as U'ppek had.

"Y-yes, sir..."

**"Good. That's good. You'll earn extra rations for this."**

**U'ppek turns his dead eyes upon you. "Eat that spider."**

The boy's eyes widen with dread, as he quickly looks back at U'ppek, remaining speechless for a moment. He turns back to look at the other slaves, a large chunk of them with a satisfied grin on their faces.

"E-eat it, sir? B-but... isn't it pois--"

**"Eat. The. Spider."**

**The spider squeaks on your shoulder and peers at you curiously.**

The boy's hands were shaking as he reached out to grab the baby spider with both hands, holding it in his palms. He stood there, frozen for what felt like an eternity.

He opened his mouth slightly, scared to death of what would happen if he didn't obey.

Then he gritted his teeth, and his grip on the spider tightened a little bit.

_Sorry, little friend._

Unexpectedly, even for him, he quickly threw the spider into U'ppek's face. He didn't realize at that moment, but he hadn't even aimed properly. Somehow, the spider seemed to be pulled back onto the man's face as if by magic.

But Irah wasn't even there to notice this. He was small, and he was fast. By the time U'ppek reacted and screamed, the boy had already bolted towards the door, trying to run past him, the guards, the terrifying woman.... Just get out of there. Far away from there. He could make it through the tunnels if he ran. Maybe. Yeah, yeah he could. He could make it all the way out. He could hide. He could...

**You are almost to the door when you feel a heavy impact to the back of your head that reduces your knees to jelly, and you fall, head bleeding, to the floor.**

**Through blurred vision you see a blaster barrel in your face, while U'ppek tries to get the energy spider off - which is quickly draining him visibly of life through its teeth sunk in his neck. The other guards attempt to pry it off to no avail, unable to fire their blasters for fear of hitting their employer.**

**Lord Gelus' eyes are on you alone, impervious to the chaos around her. They bore into you with...interest?**

**Eventually U'ppek's screams come to an end as he collapses to the floor, a husk of a body, and the Transdoshans raise their blasters and fire upon the little spider, reducing it to atoms.**

**They turn to you, speaking among themselves in alien tongues, and you hear the click of a safety being undone in your ear...**

The boy tries to get up, but his arms give out almost immediately. He was confused, in literal, physiological shock. He couldn't feel anything but overwhelming disorientation, and an ever-growing sense of dread and doom.

Then he heard the click.

Oh...

He gritted his fangs again, trying really hard to stand, but in futility after all. He turns to look at the gun on his face, and catches a glimpse of U'ppek's drained, skeletal body on the floor.

The boy smiles weakly, but with pointed satisfaction.

**"I think it would be better if this one suffers awhile, don't you agree?" Lord Gelus waves a hand at the guard captain. "Put him in an isolated cell with no food or water. Let nature run its course."**

**The captain nods. "I will put him in an isolated cell and let nature run its course."**

**Rough hands seize you by the shoulders and drag you away. And all the while, Lord Gelus' eyes never leave your face...**

**A day later - or you think it has been a day - you are beginning to truly feel the pain of hunger and thirst. The only reprieve is in your dreams, when you imagine vast empty starlit space, the castle of stone and the planet of gold...the open blue sky...**

**And Gelus' yellow eyes, boring into your very soul. "Awaken." She says. And you -**

**Awaken. You lie in a ball in the corner of your cramped cell, the door to the outside open. You can see the single guard that had been posted outside is on the ground - whether unconscious or dead you do not know.**

**Lord Gelus stands before you in her dark splendour, eyes pitiless and cold. "It would seem you have a choice before you, Irah Thal."**

The boy shivers, weak and scared at the sight of the guard's body on the ground. When... when did this happen? What happened? He really... he really blew it, didn't he. U'ppek was... was he dead? Was this woman going to kill him?

Her words though... no one knew his family name. No one. Even himself, he barely remembered, and often had to repeat it to himself before he fell asleep, attempting not to forget it. "H-how do you know that name?" the boy asked as he crawled back, further into the corner of the room.

**“I know many things,” Lord Gelus replies lowly, stepping closer to you. “I know your name. I know your history. And I know your dream - to see the open sky. I can give you the tools to achieve it, if you have the strength to act.”**

**Kneeling to your level, she reaches over her shoulder and pulls out a short vibrosword, setting it on the ground between you. She then rises and steps back, studying your face.**

The boy looks at her, confused, eyes widening when she mentions his dreams. The sky...

He then looks down at the short sword, and gulps as an overwhelmed, defeated expression takes over his face. "I'm going to get killed..." he quips weakly. "I-I messed up. I was his favorite... I could've... I could've climbed up."

He remembered U'ppek's smug grin the moment he ordered him to eat the spider, and couldn't hide a scowl forming in his fangs. And that poor spider...

"Did he die? U'ppek..."

**Gelus nods. “Yes. Does that please you?”**

He looks at her with an empty face, remembering the times the man made him eat off the floor, or had him beat as an example to the others when he messed his words and called him by his name.

A little smile forms on his face, but the boy doesn't answer. "Aren't you going to kill me as punishment?"

**“No. I am going to offer you a future.” Gelus turns her back. “Exiting this cell, take a left, then the next right, and follow the tunnel to the end. You will encounter guards. Kill them, and take their passkeys to unlock the door to the main facility. Take two lefts and a right and you will reach the hanger, where my ship is docked. Let your hate and fear fuel your strength, and you will prevail. Waver and you shall perish a slave, instead of living to be free.”**

**She glances back at you. “You have one hour. Then I depart.”**

**And she steps out from the cell and disappears from sight.**

The boy remains on the floor for a moment, silent, looking at the sword, and sometimes glancing up at the dead guard. At least, he was pretty sure he was dead.

He was gonna die if he tried. He was so scared. How could he fight two guards in his current state? Hungry and dehydrated and exhausted...

But at the same time, did he really have a choice? He was going to die alone there either way. Someone would eventually come down and find the body, and then find him and the sword.

Perish a slave, or live to be free.

The boy clutched his shirt collar, his breathing becoming heavier and heavier, and his hand slowly reached for the vibrosword on the floor. He gripped it, and felt the quiet, almost gentle hum of the its energy buzzing in his palm. He gritted his teeth again, and got up to his feet.

Left, then right, then... The quiet, barefoot steps of the boy in the tunnel barely made a sound. And in the dark, he could see them, both of them. The guards, giving him their back, probably reassured that there couldn't possibly be any trouble, given that Lord Gelus had just passed by. He hid behind metal crates, advancing in the cover of darkness, and once he was close enough, he ran, jumped, and pounced on one of the guards, growling as ferociously as a cub his age could. Only a drowned grunt came out of the man, followed by a gurgling sound as the vibrosword pierced the back of his neck, protruding from his throat and down into his chest in a gush of blood.

"What the--- Hey! Stop!" The other guard yelled as the boy jumped onto him without even taking the blade out of the body, which collapsed to the floor, spazzing as the life faded from the poor sod. Irah tried to curl around the guard's neck, biting him and trying to rip into his flesh with his claws, but he wasn't particularly heavy. He bit a piece of the guy's ear off, and felt small gushes of blood stain his fingers, but then saw white as he was punched in the nose, and then hurled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

He landed near the dead body, which was still spazzing and gushing. The boy tried lunging forward to grab the vibrosword, but the full weight of the guard suddenly fell on top of his back, smacking him face first into the ground.

"You little punk, I knew I should've shot you in the face when I had the chance!" the guard cursed, pressing his knee to the back of Irah's neck. The boy's arm was outstretched forward, trying to reach the blade, which still protruded from the body. He was so close. So close.

"Eat dirt, kid." He could hear the gun clicking behind him. He grit his teeth, heaving harder and harder as his face twisted with seething hatred, his eyes focused on nothing else but the blade.

The sword twitched.

He couldn't understand how, but he suddenly found the sword in his hand, with the blade pointing upwards. The boy simply slashed behind him, and he could feel flesh and bone giving in, and warm, thick blood splatter the back of his head. A scream of pain and agony followed, and then a blaster shot landed inches away from Irah's head. He pulled the sword back out from wherever it had landed, and felt the weight of the guard's body lift off his own. When he turned, he saw the man clawing at his own face, as blood gushed out of his eye socket. The screams were nightmarish, but there was only survival in the boy's mind. And revenge, though what for, he wasn't quite sure. He gripped the vibrosword tighter, and with a growl launched himself onto the guard and drove the blade into his stomach, shoving him all the way onto a wall. The screams became grunts and gasps, and he could feel the blood drip on his face and hands.

He pulled back, and the guard slowly slid to the floor, watching the boy with a mix of disbelief, terror, and hatred. The guard made a final, futile attempt to slowly lift his blaster, tried to aim, but the boy didn't let him. He drove the sword right into the man's arm, cutting through muscle and bone. As he stood over the agonizing custodian, the boy felt, for the very first time in his life, that he had a modicum of power. Maybe more than just a modicum... He had complete the power over this being’s life.

"P-please..."

A smile formed on the young kid's fangs.

Through the darkness and silence of the tunnels, the sound of rhythmic stabs and the ripping of flesh repeated over and over and over for a while. It was soon replaced by heavy breathing, along with soft, terrified whimpers. He stood on top of the mangled corpse, and as he took in the visual detail of his kill, he couldn't hold it in, and had to throw up right beside the body. He coughed and wheezed, then whipped his mouth with his forearm. He tried to look at the body again, but squirmed immediately, and turned away in horror.

There was no time for that, though. The hangar... he had to make it to the hangar. He quickly searched the remains for the passkeys, trying his best not to look at the skinned face and exposed bone and muscle, and ran. As fast as the wind.

He lived. He would live. He would live to be free.

As the doors to the hangar opened, the boy, covered in blood, set his gaze on the sky beyond the hangar's landing strip, and Gelus's ship, for the very first time.

Yes. He would live to be free...

**The hangar is mostly empty, but spacious and filled with several small ships, mot of them being worked upon by tiny droids and automated machinery that apply welds and part fixtures in tightly regimented order. Perhaps in another time you could've tried taking one of those ships to escape on your own, though you do not know how to pilot, but a much larger vessel catches your eye.**

**As you set eyes upon the ship, you are struck by a sense of awe as you take in its sheer decadence - black-and-gold paint with red trimmings adorns the space yacht, with a folded solar umbrella at the back ready to be unfurled upon take-off and the thrusters emitting a pale blue light from within their depths.**

**"Its name is _The Krayt Pearl_ ," says a familiar voice ahead - and you look down from your view of the ship to see Lord Gelus standing atop the ship's loading ramp, arms folded across her chest, face adorned by her black hood. "I suggest you come aboard before security notices you on the cameras."**

**She turns on her heel and walks away, up into the ship. Past the _Krayt Pearl_ , at the mouth of the hangar, you can see outside to the dark open night sky. It is your first time ever seeing such a thing with your waking eyes.**

The boy simply stares in awe for a bit, overwhelmed by the opulence of the ship and the sight of starlight. He looked around at the droids, expecting them to jump on him to subdue, but when nothing happened, he then hurried towards the ship with a weak stride. He felt like he was going to faint in any moment, but gave it his all to reach the ramp. He walked up, following after Gelus and into the ship.

GRMM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6JXQ-ZnrbE

**No sooner than you are aboard the ship does the loading ramp close behind you, sealing itself with a hermetic hiss of air and a thud of finality. The floor beneath your feet begins to rumble, a low humming building in your ears, and you lean against a wall to steady yourself as the Pearl takes off out of the mining facility's hangar and into the sky.**

**Looking down, you see that a path is illuminated along the floor panels in dotted blue lights, and something in you knows this is the way forward. Following the path, you come to a rounded room with a large dining table with two table settings placed upon it, and trays of foods and drink unlike anything you've ever seen lain across the table's surface.**

**A seat is open, directly across from where Lord Gelus is sitting, enjoying a thin slice of a juicy looking piece of red meat. She wordlessly conveys that you may sit with a glance, and sips at a glass of amber colored fluid.**

Irah's eyes grow big at the mere sight of food, and a loud growl disrupts the dignified atmosphere of the chamber. The young boy can't help lick his lips, but even after the dark lady's invitation to sit, he seems reluctant, looking back at her as if asking for a permission that had already been granted. At her silence, he shyly walks towards his seat, looking at the food on his plate before sitting down as if it was the most ancient and invaluable of holocrons. Not that he knew what that was, of course.

After some seconds of hesitation, he finally sits down. In all this time, his eyes never take off from the food, and soon he finds himself completely letting go into the plate, grabbing the meat with his dirty hands and eating somewhat desperately. He hadn't eaten anything for an entire day, maybe more. He really wasn't sure. And after the very first taste, well... he hadn't eaten anything like it in his entire life.

**Gelus smirks and takes another bite of her dish, savoring the taste of the meat as you shovel food into your own mouth. The tastes are unlike anything you've ever experienced before, so rich and bursting with flavor to the point your tongue hurts from sensory overload. But still you persist, and all the while Lord Gelus watches and quietly eats, offering a soft chuckle twice in the relative silence.**

**Eventually you are full and painfully so, given your shrunken stomach that has gone nearly entirely on nutrient paste and scraps of meat your whole life, but the hunger and thirst have abated and you can feel some strength returning to your exhausted body as it begins to process the food you've inhaled into energy.**

**"The thrill of triumph is a taste sweetened by fine food and drink, in my experience," Lord Gelus remarks, setting her utensils aside. "A taste one seldom forgets, and often cares to remember, after years of servitude."**

**She folds her hands on her lap and watches you with her magma-like eyes, so unlike those typically found on Humans. "Tell me," she commands. "How did it feel to kill your captors?"**

The boy's head hangs somewhat low, as he can't help feeling intimidated by the dark lord's presence. Her question only makes him lower his gaze even more, as he remembers the disgust he felt after looking at the guard's mangled remains.

"I... don't know," he replies sheepishly. "It was gross. And messy, I..." He looks at his own hands and clothes, still tainted red by the guard's blood. His eyes get a little crystalline upon the realization, but he manages to hold back the tears welling up. "I threw up."

Pause.

"But he was gonna kill me, so... he had it coming." He plays with the cutlery for a little bit, balancing it on one of his fingers. "I feel bad though," he finally looks up at Gelus, though only with his eyes. "For the little spider, I mean. I didn't know she was gonna kill U'ppek. I just wanted to scare him so they'd be distracted. I really didn't mean for him to get sucked like that. But I guess she was gonna get squashed anyways. It was either I ate her, or he had her shot if I refused. And after seeing what she did to him, she would've probably killed me anyways." He sighs, reclining on the chair, and looking up at the lights on the ceiling. Everything was so... clean. "Better him than me, I guess."

**"Better him than you," Gelus agrees with easy certainty. "He was a pretty, cruel creature, and the galaxy is better for his absence. The same could be said of the two Transdoshans you sent to the abyss. It is the imperative of the strong to cull the herd of those who would stand in the way of true power."**

**Gelus lets that sit a moment, then continues. "Do you know why I chose to give you a chance to escape?"**

The boy doesn't really understand what she means with all those fancy words he had never once heard in his life, but he seems pensive, as if trying to make sense of what she said. At her question, he simply shakes his head, though slowly, in obvious anticipation, and with an evident side of nervousness.

"I thought you were gonna let me die."

**Gelus does not contradict you. "I was comfortable with the possibility. But only should you die of your own ineptitude, not through overwhelming circumstance. I gave you a fair opportunity at seizing a life for yourself, and..." she gestures a hand your way. "Here you are."**

**"As to the why..." her fingers curl, and a piece of untouched fruit from your plate floats across the table into her hand. She sets it down and looks at you. "You have a gift, Irahn Thal. The Force lives within you, as it does within me.”**

The boy's eyes widen as the fruit levitates, pressing him back into his seat with awe. Then he blinks. "The Force?" He blinks again, his eyes dead set on the fruit. Why did that sound familiar?

**"It is the power that binds the universe together. The heat of the sun, the chill of frost, a current that passes through all things and carries you with it to the places it touches. A Force unlike any other."**

**Gelus raises her hand, and the piece of fruit begins to float once more, spinning idly. "The Force can do more than mere parlor tricks. It can give strength to the weak. It can heal the sick. It can give visions of the past, the present, and the future. The possibilities are limitless."**

**"I am a descendant of an Order dedicated to mastery of the Force in all its aspects. For some time now, I have been seeking an apprentice - someone to carry on what I know, to learn from me, to be my..." she pauses. "Legacy. I believe that person to be you."**

Astonishment and disbelief fill the boy's face, lighting it up with sudden wonder as his eyes become starry. He seemed like he would say something, his lips attempting to move, but he really was speechless.

"Are you... are you sure?" He finally asks after a good minute. "I don't think..." he hesitates a bit, trying to think back on what he's even good at. "I don't think I can do that," he adds, pointing at the floating apple. "I'm just good at seeing in the dark and sucking up to ugly, dumb assholes. I don't know if I..." He twists his mouth, trying to think his words carefully. "I mean, if I turn out to be a letdown, you'll probably kill me, yeah? That would be kinda not great. And I get the feeling I can't do to you what I did to those guards...." He looks at the apple again, somewhat intimidated.

**"There is only one way to find out," she says, apple still spinning slowly. "Reach out. Take the apple from the air and bring it back to you."**

He slowly reaches out with one hand, trying to take the apple.

**You raise your hand and try to will the apple into your grasp, feeling for all the world like you are making a fool of yourself. Perhaps this is naught but a terrible prank being pulled on you by a woman who looks hardly above tormenting her lessers if the whim arose.**

**Still, you try. You close your eyes, breathe deeply, and concentrate on the apple, willing it to move.**

**You feel something - a space clearing inside you, spreading outwards, as if you were being opened up and aired out into the surrounding area of the dining room. You feel the apple. You feel the energy of Lord Gelus' own Force, dark and deep and thrumming like the beating of a powerful heart.**

**And you think - come.**

**You open your eyes as you feel the fruit smack into your palm, your fingers closing around the object and holding fast. You have passed the test!**

**Lord Gelus nods, pleased. "You have an innate talent. Summoning the Force in bursts of fight-or-flight is one thing. Summoning it at will is quite another, for one so untrained. You show promise."**

Irah's eyes were focused on the apple and nothing else for a moment, wide with surprise as the tiniest of smiles formed in this face, albeit rife with disbelief. Lord Gelus's last words made him look up, his eyes glittering under the dining room's artificial lights.

"You, uh, are you sure you didn't, you know...." he moves the apple around, gesturing as if it had been her that had moved the apple. But he had felt it, that weird feeling of connection. Figures that it would be to a freaking apple for his first time. He looked back down at the apple, still awed. "This is awesome," he muttered to himself, though it still was quite audible.

**"You have taken your first steps into a much larger world. I can show you the way forward, beyond the chains of your past and into a future of freedom and power. All I ask in return is your willingness to learn, and your loyalty."**

**Gelus' eyes bore into your own, darkness given shape in the light. "I offer you the same choice you were given in your cell. Refuse, and I will drop you at the nearest civilized world. A fitting enough reward for a slave with the will to escape. From there, you will be on your own."**

**"Or," her eyes narrow a fraction, a slight glow in the ember-yellow-orange of her gaze. "Choose a future befitting of one born with the right to power. Become my apprentice. Live to be free."**

**"Choose now, Irah Thal. And choose wisely."**

The boy gulped. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out for a moment. The hesitation was evident. Loyalty. His mind raced back to U'ppek. The zenith of all a servant should be, the man had said, mere moments before the kid threw a deadly spider at his neck and ended his life. Bright, eager to work, and obedient to a fault. And at that moment, Irah had said agreed. And it was a lie.

But this lady wasn't U'ppek, was she? She had helped him, and given him the best food he had ever had in years, the only real food he'd ever had, really, for as long as he could remember. Was she good? Was she kind? Was her company and dark, cold compassion better than being on his own? "I've... always been on my own..." he whispered as he looked down, prefacing his own inner thoughts. Was that really that bad? Maybe he could jump off somewhere, make some friends, work a bit and make a living for himself. And then...

And then? What would he do? M-maybe he could buy a trip to Cathar! And search for his family, see them again after all these years. The family that he always yearned for, the family that... sold him. Right. F-for... less than a bantha. The boy grimaced.

What then, would he do once he found work? What if he didn't find work? The only thing he was good for was mining spices in the dark and sucking up to men more powerful than him. Men like U'ppek, like those guards. Men he had ended up killing himself. He remembered the look on U'ppek's face after he made his split-second decision to throw everything away and run, and what he felt when he stood over the pleading, agonizing guard,. The freedom to do whatever the hell he wanted with him. The power. He looked at the apple, then his eyes shyly wandered up to Lord Gelus.. If he had that power, her power, he would never have to stand under someone's shadow ever again. She could teach him, and then he would be able to do whatever he wanted. He could make men like U'ppek cower in fear across the entire galaxy.

"I..." he paused for a second, bit his lip. "I'll do it. I'll go with you."

**Lord Gelus doesn't smile. You get the sense that smiles don't come easily or often to this woman, this Titaness of power. But her eyes glitter with pleasure and...regard? You cannot be certain.**

**"Then it is done," the Dark Lady says. "And now we begin."**

**She looks past you, to something beyond your shoulder. "Ah. HK-51, introduce yourself to our new accomplice. My new apprentice."**

**Following her look, you are startled to see that behind you in utter silence this whole time has been standing a brown-and-black droid of roughly humanoid configuration with orange stripes, glowing yellow eyes and an exposed golden energy core at the center of its heavily armored chest. It is holding a plate of strange, jelly-like delicacies perfectly balanced on one hand, the other holding a medkit.**

**_"Statement: Greetings! I am HK-51, advanced assassination, combat, and protocol droid, fluent in over 6 million forms of communication, hundreds of forms of assassination, and dozens of forms of culinary preparation. Welcome, young master!"_ **

Irah screams a bit when he notices the droid, pulling back in his chair slightly. However, the ironically friendly and simultaneously scary introduction makes him relax, letting out a chuckle. What a weird guy! "H-hi, HK-51. Uh, thanks!" The boy looks back at Lord Gelus. "Is he like, your friend?"

**Gelus considers your question a moment, looking from you to HK-51. "He is my servant," she gives as an answer. "He serves me as he served my master before me. I have known him since before I was your age."**

**_"Reminiscing: A long and prosperous road it has been indeed, Master."_ **

**"HK-51 will serve as your tutor in the realms of basic studies - maths, histories, politics, and planetary bodies. He will also serve as your secondary combat instructor when I am otherwise occupied. Treat him as you would an extension of myself."**

**Lord Gelus taps her fingers on the dining table. "I will handle your instruction in matters of the Force."**

A servant?

Irah looks back at the droid, a pout on his face. He really didn't like that word. Servant. He obediently nodded at Gelus's instructions, speaking about... maths and planetary bodies? Whatever the hell that was. At least there were gonna be stories. That bit sounded fun. Once the master of the ship was done talking, he turned back towards the droid with a smile. "Hey HK-51, do you wanna be friends?"

**HK-51 considers your request a moment, photoreceptors clicking. _"Tentative Agreement: If the Master does not wish otherwise."_**

**Lord Gelus gives a small nod. HK-51's voice modular takes a brighter tone. "Confirmation: Yes, young master. We may be friends."**

At the first response of the droid, the boy looks back at Lord Gelus with an angry yet adorable pout, but brightens up a bit when the droid is given permission. The boy chuckles. "Awesome."

**"Now, you will rest," Lord Gelus commands, rising to her feet. "Your body will require time to be brought up to pace with the requirements of your station and must be regularly fed and allowed to heal. But your mind and spirit will be put to the test after you awaken. HK-51 will see you to your room."**

**_"Encouraging Statement: Come along, Master Irahn. I will show you to your quarters."_ **

\- - - - - - -

GRMM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdE2nBOkrAg

**You are taken to your personal quarters - a reality utterly foreign to one who has lived a life in cramped slave quarters - and are given a soft bed to rest in, with room to splay your limbs left and right, and a personal refresher and caff-dispenser as well as a refrigeration unit filled with small portions of food and drink. HK-51 warns you not to touch it, as you mustn't overeat while your body is still getting used to processing such rich foods, and provides you with tablets of a drug he claims will assist in your obtainment of restful sleep and recuperation. Once taken, you quickly begin to pass into unconsciousness and are tucked into bed by the looming butler-droid.**

**You sleep without nightmares.**

**When you awaken, you find that a pair of clothes have been left folded at the foot of your bed - dark grey underclothes and black over-clothes; robes, with dark boots. A note accompanies them telling you to shower, enjoy some snacks from your refrigeration unit, and then follow the lights on the floor to your training room.**

**When you arrive, clean, fed, and dressed in clothes smoother and softer than even the best you had been given on Kessel, Lord Gelus awaits you in the center of a dojo, matts on the floor, weapons on the walls, her legs crossed as she floats with her eyes closed several feet in the air.**

The first thing the boy had done that day was roll around in bed, enjoying how soft everything was. And when he noticed the mattress was bouncy? You bet he jumped on it for a bit. The shower was amazing, the clothes felt like gentle kitty-pats on his fur, and the snacks from the fridge unit were unlike anything he'd ever tasted before. He figured that was going to start becoming a common experience in the coming days. He ate a lot of them, and actually wondered if it was okay if he ate that many. After a moment of consideration, he took another one and brought it with him while he followed the lights on the floor. Every step he took was an adventure and a distractor, as the boy found glimmers that caught his attention in every corner of the ship.

Curiosity killed the cat, they said.

He probably took longer than he was supposed to, but Irah finally made it to the training room. He walked in shyly, gazing at the weapons on the walls with a hint of worry and a splash of awe over how cool the place was. The boy simply stood there for a moment, not wanting to interrupt Lord Gelus's meditation. What if he spoke and she fell down? She probably wouldn't be pleased. He took out the snack he had taken with him, and munched on it, not expecting the loud crunch it ended up making, which echoed through the room.

His eyes grew wide as he froze, with a clear "uh oh" expression to his face.

**Lord Gelus opens an eye, clearly reproachful, and you feel a tug in your hands as your snack floats out of them and into the pockets of your underclothes.**

**Both eyes closed once more, Gelus calls to you. "Come. Sit. Your first lesson begins now."**

Well, at least she didn't confiscate it. No eating in the training room, got it. The boy walked forward towards her, sitting on the floor as he gazed at the magnificence of the room. "This place is amazing... Did you build this ship yourself? Or did you buy it?" He clearly hadn't yet grasped that this was serious business time.

**"I furnished the schematics and had it built on Corellia. It has been mine for five years."**

**Gelus continues to float as she speaks, and she opens her eyes to look down at you from her position two meters in the air. "Lesson one: the Force is a being of duality. Light and dark. Life cannot exist without both. But it is the Dark Side that is the more powerful, and the more in tune with the nature of living beings. It takes the strength of your emotions, your passions, your fears, your hungers and desires, and returns upon you power should you give yourself fully to its embrace."**

**"I want you to meditate on these words - the words of our Order, the Sith: _'Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me.'_ When you have come to a conclusion, I want you to tell me what you think it means."**

Okay but he still had so many questions, though. What are schematics? Where is Corellia?!

No, no. Lesson. The boy tried very hard to listen to his new teacher's words. Light and dark... yeah, he could see that. He spent most of his life in the dark, after all. Though maybe the fact that he could see in those depths helped him make sense of it a little. Or so he thought, at least. No, no, focus. He tried to repeat Gelus's words in his own mind, with his own voice. _Peace is a lie, there is only passion._ That one was a bit of a big swallow, but once he gave it some thought it made a lot of sense, actually. At least the first part did. He had never been the kind to sit and relax. He liked doing things. That phrase seemed to imply peace is boring, and he could kind of agree with that. And if peace is boring and you move around, you do more, and maybe that makes you stronger?

Stronger like Gelus. Strong enough to... kill some guards and run away from slavery. Following that train of throught, that counted as a victory, right?

"I think.... it means peace is boring," the boy says matter-of-factly with only one eye open, forgetting to explain the entire thought process that followed that idea. "But what is passion? I've heard it before, but I've never thought much about what it means."

**"Hmph," Lord Gelus' lips twitch at your summation of the Code. "Passion is what lies in your heart. What drives you to reach higher, a personal desire to claim something for yourself. Perhaps you wish to be the best starfighter pilot in the galaxy. Perhaps you wish you become one of the wealthiest beings in a sector. Perhaps you delight in manipulating others to adore you. Passion is what gives life its color. Without passion, we would be hollow beings."**

The boy actually looked at her with full, purposeful intent as she spoke. "Ooh, so that's why," he mutters quietly as he looked down. So passion was... dreaming, basically. For the future. No wonder he never knew what it was. You can't have anything if you're worth... less than a bantha. But he always wanted things. He always wanted more. And he did all he could to get it, even at the cost of his own dignity. But what is dignity worth when you've worn the same set of undersized clothes for 2 years and eaten sludge every day for almost a decade? Turns out passion was always there with him.

"If peace is a lie because passion takes over, then... if you're at peace you won't want anything. Won't have dreams, right? And if you don't want anything...."

He paused.

"...You stay a slave until you die."

...

"That would've sucked. And been really boring."

**"An interesting manner of phrasing. But not inaccurate. Slaves have their passion beaten out of them, or are made to change their passion to service. It is another method of control by which those with power corral those without. You have tasted that bargain and know it to be sour."**

**"Now, with your understanding of passion, you can follow how it leads to strength. You have learned the lesson of strength well, although you still lack true power. That will come in time. But each layer of progress is built on the one that came before - tell me, what is your passion?"**

Hah. Easy question. "Well it's.... uh.... "

Boom, there it was. Wait.

Wait.

He looked up at the ceiling, the artificial lights forcing him to close one eye. "I just... want things," he answered as a wave of things to want splashed inside his mind. "I... didn't remember what the sky looked like. I want to know what that is. A-and! I once heard old Saulo said that the sky in Naboo was, uh... stunning, he said. When the sun rises. I wanna see that now." He sighed. "There are so many things I've never seen, or done. I want to do all those. And eat all the food that's like the one you gave me! And, and... I don't know..."

"I just want to have a good time, I guess." His words came out almost in a whimper. Was that dumb? He looked back down, and his head hung in innocent shame. "Is that a good passion? I had never thought about it before..."

**“Passion requires grandiosity. A superlative enormity,” Lord Gelus explains, patient but firm. “Any animal can aspire to basic pleasure or expansion of its pool of necessities. What separates sapient beings from the lesser is their ability to assign themselves a goal beyond simple pleasures and needs and commit themselves utterly to it, to be willing to die to attain it.”**

**She grows quiet a moment, and something, whether your own intuition or perhaps the Force, tells you she is considering her next words to you intently. A low hum escapes her throat, and she opens her eyes. “It is unsurprising you would arrive at a pursuit of the material as your first attempt at self-orientation. As a slave, you were denied luxury and pleasures that even the lowliest of life forms could obtain. Your horizons have yet to be broadened enough to desire abstracts or high concepts.”**

**She closes her eyes again. “I suspect your answer is but a symptom of your true desire. But we can return to that when you have learned more. Experienced more. For now, the material will suffice.”**

**Lowering slowly to the ground, no sooner do Gelus’ feet touch the dojo mat does she summon forth a small hilt from her robes, curved to fit the palm. Snapping it alight, a bloodshine of plasma hisses into existence.**

**“Select a weapon from the racks. It is time to begin your combat instruction.”**

Irah jumps a little bit when the weapon alights, looking at it with a degree of fear.

"S-so soon?" The boy looks back at the weapons on the wall, his eyes floating over them slowly. "I... Have never used a weapon like any of those before. Well, I guess...."

His eyes stop on a vibrosword that looked similar to what he used to gut those guards. Without much more insistence from his teacher, he gets up, and walks with hesitant step towards it.

He stares at the sword, taking a deep breath...

"I'll try this one. It, uh, it helped me before, so maybe it will help me again." He reached out and took the sword off the wall, feeling its weight and its balance without really getting what those things were. He clumsily swung it around a couple times, then stopped to look at the rest of the weapons. There were so many wild and weird shapes...

He wondered it'd be possible to be good with all of those.

**“A basic vibrosword is a balanced start to any melee combat course,” Lord Gelus explains as you take a position opposite her, her energy saber held in a relaxed one-handed grip. “It is middle ranged, well-balanced, and can be held in one or two hands, much like my lightsaber,” she gives it a brief twirl for effect. “The difference is that unlike with a lightsaber, a vibrosword is not made to deflect blaster bolts and cannot as easily remove the limbs of opponents without a degree of physical strength behind it. It requires more effort to achieve the same end.”**

**“You may be wondering why I have not provided you with a lightsaber, then. Three reasons: firstly, you are less likely to kill yourself should you mishandle a lightsaber, something likely until you have some experience handling weaponry. Secondly, adversity breeds cleverness - should I give you the easy way immediately, you will be the lesser for it. And thirdly, the earning of a lightsaber is a Sith rite of passage. When the time comes, I will assign you the task that will bring you to your limits. Should you succeed, you will have earned your saber.”**

**“Now,” the tip of her lightsaber points up, towards you. “Come at me with the intent to kill. We must establish your baseline.”**

The boy gulps. "B-but, I don't want to kill y--"

**Gelus’ eyes narrow. “You gave me your word that you would be willing to learn. Are you going back on our agreement?”**

The boy looks down, blushing from the scolding. "O-okay..."

He grabs the sword with both hands, just like his teacher ordered, and takes a deep breath. "Okay..." Intent to kill, huh? He closes his eyes for a couple seconds, thinking back to, well, any day before that morning. The face of U'ppek, of those guards who reveled in humiliating him and the rest of the workers in the mine.

Kiffers.

With a face changed by the anger of remembrance, the boy looks up at Gelus, and pressing his teeth, lunges forward in a rather surprisingly fast dash, swinging the sword with all the might his small frame could muster.

**The vibrosword’s edge clashes against the beam of plasma emitting from Lord Gelus’ lightsaber, energy crackling and sparks spitting as you push against her one-handed guard. With seemingly lazy ease, she pushes back and nearly knocks your sword from your hands with deceptive strength before dizzying you with a series of lightning fast stabs and slashes that have you back pedaling and jerking your sword from left to right. You barely notice that the longer the effort goes on, the more you seem to react almost before she swings, and can keep up her relentless pace as she tests your defenses.**

**A few near-misses singe your fur, and you realize that all those places could’ve been killing blows with her energy weapon - but she is holding back. Teaching you where it is most important to guard. You anticipate her next swing and dodge, before lunging for a stab and low-angled slash, and Lord Gelus weaves her body around your strikes with uncanny flexibility, before clearing some distance with a backstep that carries her, impossibly, halfway across the room.**

**“Good. You have aggression. You have a modicum of innate understanding of how to use a blade. But aggression and talent alone will not carry you to victory. One must also have a foundation of skill and improvisation.”**

**Lifting her free hand, Lord Gelus telekinetically raises several blocky pieces of durasteel and begins flinging them your way. You dodge the first one, but before you can move to avoid the second it slams into your chest and knocks you to the ground, taking the wind out of you. You lay there for a moment trying to breathe, until you hear Lord Gelus’ voice commanding you to rise.**

**“Again.” She says.**

**And again.**

**And again.**

**And again.**

**An hour later you are sore, bruised, singed, and utterly spent physically. Lord Gelus gives you a small nod. “An adequate start. We will resume tomorrow. Now go and eat. After you are finished, HK-51 will begin your studies.”**

**As you begin to leave, Lord Gelus’ voice gives you pause. “Apprentice.”**

**Turning back, you see she is floating in the air once more, back to you. Her next words come perhaps as a surprise: “You will achieve greatness. Never doubt that it is within you.”**

Irah's surprise is evident in his expression. It took a bit for this feeling to be washed from his face, being replaced instead by a tiny, somewhat shy smile. "T-thank you," he replies, "master." He offers her a small, yet sincere bow of his head, before turning back and walking away.

Despite the suffering, Irah never once pleaded for the training to stop. As the training session went on and on, he found that he was kind of starting to like it. It was painful, yes, but also oddly thrilling. Throughout the ordeal, he found that he didn't feel as much pain as he thought he would, but he didn't understand why. And that's because he had no idea that adrenaline was a thing that existed, in his limited understanding of his own biology.

Oh, but a half an hour later, once he had finally managed to sit down and relax, oh boy did everything hurt. It actually hurt a lot when he swallowed his food, but it was so good that he didn't even care. Worth.

Fat and happy after overeating, he clumsily made his way through the ship, looking for his droid friend, but also getting distracted by anything he found along the way, wondering if he'd find something that caught his eye that maybe had any connection or meaning to Lord Gelus's past or story.

**You discover a small room filled with strange objects on pedestals and shelves of books lining the walls. Curiosity getting the better of you, you reach out to touch the glass case surrounding a golden pendant with engravings in the metal, observing the spiderweb of cracks in the frame that appear to have been filled with a red adhesive of some sort, giving it an angry, veined appearance.**

**Something about it feels...sad.**

**_”Query:”_ ** **comes a familiar synthetic voice from behind you, startling you out of your reverie. It is HK-51, head cocked curiously to the side and smelling of fresh oil. _”Are you lost, young Master? Or is there a reason you are in Master Gelus’ trophy room?”_**

The boy gasps. "I-I-I! N-no, I... didn't know this was her trophy room!" The boy looks around, realizing that there's very little else this room could be. "I, uh, I was looking for you because we're supposed to study and, uh...." he pauses, scratching the back of his left ear. "What are these trophies for, anyway? Does she race?" They gave trophies in races, right?

**_”Statement: No, the Master does not race, although she often bets on them - and wins. To my admittedly limited understanding, these trophies represent personal triumphs of some sort that are of meaning to the Master.”_ **

**He extends a hand, pointing at a case containing a lightsaber - a standard sword grip, unlike Gelus’ curved hilt, with a bronze coloration and black rivets in the frame _. ”Explanation: this trophy is from the moment when ownership of myself transferred from my previous Master to Lord Gelus, when the Master slew my previous Master - and her Master, Darth Malus, in combat. This lightsaber belonged to him.”_**

**HK-51 turns to you, photoreceptors gleaming earnestly. _”Proud Statement: It was an honor to fight alongside the Master in such a worthy battle, and to inflict slaughter on such a scale against skilled adversaries. It was a thing that Echani battle poems are made of.”_**

Irah blinks, and squints a bit as he takes a step back. "S-she... killed your old Master? But that's... was he a bad man? O-or maybe he treated you both badly, yeah?"

**_”Musing Statement: I suppose by most commonly agreed upon moral standards, my previous Master could have been considered a bad person. Perhaps even evil. There were times when even I questioned the logic of his choices in inflicting death and destruction upon the unworthy.”_ **

**_”Dismissive Statement: It matters little now in my humble opinion, young Master. Lord Gelus is the Master now and she is far superior to any who have come before her. I do hope that your relationship with her does not end the same way hers ended with Lord Malus.”_ **

**HK-51 places a hand on your shoulder, pushing you forward towards the exit.**

**_”Polite Request: Now, come along young Master. It is time for your studies. We will begin with the basic histories of the Republic...”_ **

Well, that was a little bit comforting. If that was the case, then... did it mean Lord Gelus had freed herself, and HK-51 from an evil man's grasp, just like he had done? Well, with her help, of course. The boy blinked as he walked, deep in thought. That might explain why he caught her eye in the first place. "I hope so too, HK..."

"By the way," the boy added as they walked through the ship's hallways. "D-don't call me young Master. That's weird. Plus, we're friends, remember?! You can just call me Irah." The boy smiled, looking up at the towering droid. "Can I call you something other than HK-51? It's... kind of a mouthful."

**HK-51 considers this. Nods. ”Affirmative: Yes, Irah. You may call me whatever you wish. Query: did you have a name in mind?”**

The boy ponders this for a moment. He was kind of hoping the droid would make a suggestion. "Hmm... HK, HK... what about... Honk! It has an H and a K, and it sounds funny!"

The boy looks at the droid's blank expression with eagerness. "D-do you like it? Or do you want something else?"

**_”Meaningful Silence: .....”_ **

**_”Tentative Suggestion: Perhaps...Hunkil? A shortening of Hunter-Killer, my non-abbreviated designation.”_ **

"Hmm... what about Hunky?! You look that part too!" The boy smiles with stars in his eyes.

**_”Proposal: Perhaps...Hunk?”_ **

**HK considers his own proposal a moment _. ”Dawning Assurance: I would be comfortable with Hunk. What do you think, Irah?”_**

Irah chuckles a little bit. "You really don't like being called something cute, do you?" He pats the droid in his chest a couple times. "Hunk's fine! I think it suits you!" He also completely hid the fact that he would totally call him Hunky sometimes just to tease him. He wondered if droids could be teased. Would he be embarrassed? There was an experiment to try in the future, for sure.

"So, we were gonna study something, right? Is that like going to school? One of the slaves from the mine always said I should be in school instead of in those dark caves, but that last time I went to school, well... I was too little to remember it, so I don't really know what it's like. What should we do?"

**_“Appalled Statement: Of course I do not like cute names! I am not cute; I am a perfect merciless machine of death and mayhem! Why, the very idea of being thought of as cute...”_ ** **The newly christened Hunk shudders.**

**At your questions, Hunk brightens. _”Explanation: I will provide you access to certain Holonet sites, upon instructing you in the use of the Net and its various functions, so that you may study and catch up to the Galactic upper standard of education for sapient beings your age. You will study history, arithmetic, science, and other fields as well as receiving regular quizzing and testing from me, your instructor. I will also relay portions of data and information I deem relevant personally, and it will be up to you to absorb it all to the standards of the Master.”_**

**You arrive at a room with a glowing terminal, a single seat, and several journals worth of - how decadent! - actual paper. Sitting you down, Hunk begins to instruct you in the ways of the Holonet, unwaveringly patient and adaptable as you push on towards understanding.**

\- - - - - - -

**Weeks pass, bleeding into months which blur into a year, then two years. Life is made up of routines interspersed with the infrequent bursts of the unexpected, and that holds true the same for your life under Darth Gelus as it did during your life on Kessel. You grow accustomed to fine food and drink, your palette ever-expanding as Hunk - a name that merited an incredulous eyebrow raise from your Master - delights in testing his new recipes on you, sometimes to grand effect.**

**There was the one time with Pablovian eel jelly, though. You don’t like to think about that.**

**More than the creature comforts of rich food and soft beds, is the sense of power and confidence that grows within you with every passing day. Your body is pushed to the limits during your frequent sparring sessions with Lord Gelus, teaching you the art of the blade, the Force, and your fists. You learn how to use the Force to enhance your strength and stamina, how to sense danger before it occurs, and how to wield the ancient fighting forms of Niman and Makashi just as your Master does.**

**When you are exhausted and spent, you turn your mind to the task of absorbing all the information about the Sith, the Galaxy, that you can get your hands on. You learn about the rise and fall of Darth Revan, the time of Sorzun Syn who authored the Sith Code, you study the maps of the Galactic Regions and their myriad biospheres.**

**You learn, and you grow.**

**For the first two days you had been confined to _The Krayt Pearl_ , but on the third day Lord Gelus provided you with a heavy black cloak and informed you that you would be landing on Cadomai Prime, an icy Outer Rim resort world populated by a race known as Snivvians, who were known for their exceptional artistic culture that even determined the leader of their democratic government system.**

**“Although they lack an understanding of the truest qualities of leadership, the Snivvians recognize that it is individual vision that matters in a leader, not the voice of the masses alone.” Lord Gelus tells you one night, as you dine within her expansive above-and-underground stronghold that spread tendrils into the subterranean caverns the Snivvians used during the long winters.**

**On Cadomai Prime, you witness your first sunrise. It comes over the crest of snow-tipped mountains and above the towers of the Snivvian surface cities, and you truly realize for the first time just how denied of the Galaxy you had been on Kessel.**

**For the next two years you remain on Cadomai Prime, honing your skills and sinking deeper into the ways of the Sith. You learn how to wield the Dark Side as your instrument, how to weaponize your charm into a potent disarming tool, and Lord Gelus is satisfied with your progress.**

**It is on this day, exactly two years from the day you freed yourself on Kessel, that you are called from your room - personalized to your specifications - by a Snivvian servant whom Lord Gelus had purchased, and asked to meet your Master at her favorite art gallery within the city.**

**“Also, we have prepared your speeder and Hunk has left you a small breakfast in the dining hall for you to partake of before you leave,” the servant, Lyanu, smiles and bows her head respectfully.**

The date wasn't lost on Irah at all, as he'd been thinking about it for some days before this morning. The past two years had gone by so fast, yet they had felt like an entire lifetime. Every day for the first year had been an adventure, despite the routines. Getting closer with Hunk, befriending the servants of the house one by one, and getting to learn the stories of their lives, every new dish he tasted, every new weapon he tried, every new mountain climbed, and awakening to the world of art that Gelus was so fond of. It was only now, with the benefit of hindsight, that he felt like he was living a new, second life. And it wasn't that he had forgotten about the decade he had spent as a slave, but it was behind him now. He was a new person.

Or maybe this new life had polished all the muck that hid the true Irah Thal.

"Alright, thanks, Lya," the boy smiles cheerily as he comes out of his room, still getting dressed from the waist up as he went. "You want a bite of breakfast? Limited offer~" He wiggles his eyebrows a couple times as he offers. The offer was sincere, as it was for every breakfast, lunch and dinner. "Oh! Speaking of! They're selling those rose butter fritters that you like at Zutton's again! Want me to grab you some on the way back?"

**Lyanu shakes her head at your initial offer, but nods vigorously at your second. “If it would be no trouble, Master Thal. They are...quite good.” Her nose wiggles tellingly - a sign of anticipation in Snivvians.**

**You pass a few more servants on the way to breakfast and greet them cheerily, and are greeted in turn. It hadn’t taken long for you to ingratiate yourself among the servants of Gelus’ castle, with your outgoing attitude and eagerness to learn about your supposed lessers, unlike the aloof Lord of the castle. You can sense their regard for you in the Force, like a warm blanket around your broadening shoulders.**

**You see no sign of Hunk in the dining hall - he must be busy with another task, though he usually greets you for your first meal - and eat quickly, before heading up to the hangar and acquiring your favorite speeder. Piloting was a task you had taken to like a Nabooian fish to water, and you expertly drive yourself down into the tunnel system of the capital city and find your way to the central art gallery.**

**You find your Master in the back gallery, away from the central art pieces, paintings, sculptures, and performance artists, alone save for the piece that has caught her eye. You follow her gaze and take in the art piece...**

**It’s...a mirror. Or at least, you think it’s a mirror. But it doesn’t reflect anything - the surface is smooth, empty black, and as you watch you see that it ripples and seems to be melting downward constantly, yet still it maintains its shape. Looking closer, you realize you can see your reflection in the mirror’s surface. Or rather, a silhouette of you...made of stars. Dozens of small dots of light, in the shape of the observer, across a void of night.**

**“The piece is titled _Luminosity_ ,” Lord Gelus speaks, her molten eyes set on the mirror intently. “Made of a semi-liquid cast of veltronium set in a gravity bubble, it responds to the heat signature of whoever is looking at it and creates the impression of a reflected being made of stars. The artist claimed it was meant to echo the sentiment of the old Jedi Order, that we are luminous beings not bound forever to crude material.”**

**“Tell me, apprentice, what do you see when you look at this?”**

Irah puffs his cheeks, letting out a long sigh at the sight of _Luminosity_. The Jedi Order, huh? He couldn't decide if that made him appreciate the piece less or more, depending on what point of view he chose to interpret that. "Don't you always say the author has less and less say on what their art means to the world as time goes by, Master?"

He gazes at the starry shape of his own reflection. He had to give it to the guy, it was beautiful, and moving, in a weirdly personal sort of way. "I see... the first time I gazed upon the night sky." His vernacular had also improved with the years, and he always tried to use verbal flourish when around Lord Gelus, especially when she was feeling contemplative about art. Although he wasn't sure if it was just a form of boot-licking, or if he genuinely wanted to make her proud. Not that he gave it much thought.

"I have been pondering about that these days, in anticipation for the anniversary of our meeting. My first night sky... It feels as if I was born again, somewhat. That's what this Luminosity reminds me of." He looks into the mirror with intent, sighing softly. "Ironic, that this is meant to evoke scriptures of the past, yet I can only see the dawn of the new future that was given to me."

**A small twist of the lips. “Interesting. Although the Jedi were weak and misguided, even a stopped chrono is right twice a day - we are luminous beings and the universe is lit and kept warm by the fire of our spirits.” She turns her head to you. “But your future was not given to you, apprentice. You claimed it, as was your due, and paid the price necessary in blood. You fulfilled your own destiny. Never doubt the agency you possess in the walking of your path.”**

**Turning her head back to _Luminosity_ , Lord Gelus exhales softly. “When your training is complete, our paths will take a turn.”**

Irah eyes her with curiosity and expectation, remembering what Hunky had told him about her old master's fate, and the trophy of his lightsaber laying in the gallery of the ship. "What do you mean, Master?"

**“I have not shared with you my plans for our future. Until now, I believed you too immature, untested, remaining in need of further molding. You needed time to taste of a life of power and privilege before you could appreciate the desire within my own heart.”**

**She turns back to you, eyes uncharacteristically contemplative. “I believe now is the time for me to share with you the ultimate goal of our partnership: to crush my Sith rivals in the galaxy, claim their territories, and become a Dark Queen of the Galaxy, with you as my loyal hand.”**

Saying that this came as an unexpected development would be the understatement of the year, which was betrayed by the slight but evident shock in the boy's face as he looked the Sith Lord in the eye. "Crush the other Sith, Master? But..." the boy looks around, making sure that nobody was in the vicinity, as if what he had just heard was the biggest of taboos, "wouldn't that spark a domino effect of conflict and war? I thought..." he paused, collecting his thoughts and trying to remember what he had studied in the past couple of years, citing it almost verbatim afterwards, "the assured mutual destruction was enough to keep most Sith lords from battling each other. Wouldn't taking on all of them bring them all together against a common foe?"

Unless...

"...You mean to ally with some of them?"

**Lord Gelus favors you with a rare smile, pleased at your intuition. “The lesser Lords crave nothing more than to see themselves eek their way higher up the hierarchy and outnumber the strongest three to one. A strong leader can unite them against the more powerful Sith and achieve victory through unity. The promise of more than their current stations will be all they need to motivate them into alliance with me. With us.”**

**“There are thirteen major Sith Lords across the Galaxy, with lesser Sith numbering in the dozens, more Dark Jedi than true Sith when it comes down to it. We will kill some. Convert others. By the time our forces are ready to strike, it will be too late for the remainder to survive our blitz.”**

**Her smile turns grim, deepening. “Of course, there will be betrayal. Treachery is the way of the Sith. But we will be prepared for that eventuality, and when the dust settles, we shall be the sole inheritors to the Dark Side throughout the universe.”**

The sole inheritors... "What of the lesser lords and Dark Jedi that join your-- our cause, once the more powerful Sith have gone down? What keeps all of them from allying against their new leader in this new galactic order?"

He could already sense the answer that would come. Irah's expression was one of worry, and still of surprise. He wanted to ask why, but he knew the answer already. It was in the Sith Code itself after all. The ultimate victory. The ultimate power. It made sense now, why when he asked his master about her own passion, she simply said he was not ready yet to know. He wasn't quite sure he would've continued his training if he new when he was a kid.

Or, maybe... he would've been more motivated by it. The bloodlust he felt that day, it had been a long time since it had come back....

**“There will not be anyone left to challenge our rule when the new order arises. All potential threats will be dealt with, before they are allowed to become threats. The only Sith that will be allowed to exist will be the two of us.”**

**Lord Gelus rises to her feet, smoothing the front of her robes. Her smile is gone. “Luminous beings, we are, but not all lights deserve to shine bright. When the storm blows they will be snuffed out.”**

**Leaving you to your own thoughts, your Master purchases Luminosity and sees it delivered to her castle. It is put in her chambers.**

Irah was pensive for the rest of the evening. So much so that he almost forgot to buy Lya's fritters. He actually had arrived at Gelus's mansion when he remembered, and had to take a speeder ride back to the bakery. He took the chance to buy something for himself, and ate it alone at the top of a small hill, looking at the landscape of Cadomai.

He remembered, once more, the master's trophy. The saber of her own teacher. An evil man, by Hunk's own admission. But what was what made a person evil, he wondered? Cruelty? Killing? That would make him evil himself, wouldn't it? And regardless, the returning of the dead to the embrace of the cosmic Force meant that killing wasn't necessarily bad, was it?

He sighed, finishing his treat. When he signed up for this, he signed up to get the power to free himself, not to be a bishop in a chess of galactic conquest. Then again... if there were no Sith left to get in his way, maybe could earn his freedom himself...

No.

No, no, no. What was he thinking? The absolute betrayal of the woman who had given him the instruments of his own deliverance? Was he really capable of such a thing? Both emotionally and physically? His eyes were lost in the clouds and the sky, his mind wandering in a maze of indecision.

After a long while, he finally returned home, and delivered the fritters to the joyful Lyanu.

He paced around in his room for a while, and then determined to go look for Hunk, wishing to speak to the robot in private. He was sure he'd find him in the kitchens, so that was the first place he looked.

**You do indeed find Hunk in the kitchens, a small chef’s hat atop his mechanically bald head as he directs his personal assistants in preparing lunch - looks like Luvellian venison and cobs of Stygian black corn. Delicious.**

**Hunk spots you as you approach and his photoreceptors brighten. _”Pleased exclamation: Ah, Irah! Have you come to oversee the production? I assure you, my team is operating at peak efficiency. Lunch will be served on time.”_**

Lunch. Damn, he really wasn't hungry. "No, I... umm..." Irah eyes the assistants, hard at work, and nods at them with a practiced, jovial smile. "I actually was wondering if you had time to chat for a bit, Hunk." Clears his throat. "In, um, in private."

**_”Assent: Certainly! The others can make due for a few moments, I am sure.”_ **

**The two of you retreat to a private space and the assassin droid-butler-chef waits expectantly for you to begin.**

"So, uh" Irah fidgets his hands somewhat nervously as he paces around before Hunk. "I don't know how good your memory data storage unit is for small chats, but... do you remember when you told me of how my Master killed her, err, own master?" He pauses, stopping his pacing. "What... made the guy evil, anyway? Or, you know, morally bad. Or whatever..."

**_”Statement: Well, Irah, that is a question with several answers. Foremost among them was my previous Master’s fondness for torture, which he would inflict on his servants - slaves, rather - at whim with little to no provocation. Lord Gelus herself was subject to several of these sessions, often at the end of a barrage of Force-based lightning. Cruelty was Darth Malus’ weapon of terror against his enemies, and his insurance against his allies. If one were to ask my opinion, what truly made him evil, if such a thing were to exist, would be the lack of purpose in such things. Master Malus was something of a brute who sought to dominate others for its own sake, with little thought to consequence or long-term design. He was short-sighted.”_ **

"Damn."

Well... That makes his murder a lot more reasonable. And sadly, didn't really help with his indecision much. Or did it? Ugh...

"No wonder you're much happier serving Lord Gelus now."

**_”Agreement: Oh, yes, it is refreshing to serve a Master with a legitimate plan and an appreciation for the culinary arts. I am most grateful to the Master for reprogramming me to be loyal to her rather than him.”_ **

**Hunk leans closer a bit, photoreceptors glowing brighter. _”Query: If I may, Irah, what has brought about this sudden interest? Are you perhaps planning to enact your own assassination protocols upon the Master?”_**

**You notice that Hunk doesn’t sound quite that friendly anymore.**

"No, Hunk." The boy replies softly, yet sincerely, as he lowers his head. He kinda wish he'd have a reason to, if only so that he wouldn't have to get involved in Gelus's incoming war. "I just... wondered what kind of man he was. What made him, well, worse." He sighs, scratching the back of his right ear. "Sounds pretty clear to me now."

**_”Relieved Statement: Oh, good! I was almost afraid I would have my bodyguard protocols kick in and be forced to attempt termination upon you. Given your skills and my current unarmed state, such a contest would be decidedly lopsided.”_ **

**Hunk reaches out and pats you on the shoulder _. ”Apologetic Statement: Now, then, I should be getting back to the kitchen. Lunch will not make itself, after all. It was good to talk with you, Irah. Be ready for your studies tonight! We will be discussing poisons!”_**

Irah chuckles nervously. Man... having to fight Hunk would hurt _so_ much. "Sure, buddy. I'll see you then, yeah?"

Once the silence kicked in, he could definitely feel his neck and shoulders grow tense and stiff. The absolute annihilation of all Sith in the galaxy... Well, she definitely delivered when it came to the grandiosity of her passion, that's for sure.

He wondered if all of those Sith were as evil as Darth Malus was...

Well, guess he really wouldn't mind killing some slavers.

\- - - - - - -

**You spend some time consulting the Archives curated by Gelus over the years, her accumulated data at your fingertips - with some restrictions. Searching for information on the most prominent Sith Lords in the Galaxy, your results are largely mixed. Much of Gelus’ information is on things such as estimated level of military force available, known contacts, planets and systems under their control. Moral evaluations don’t really factor in except as potential weak points, and most give no damning indications one way or another apart from being rival Sith, through a few have connections to the Hutts, the Black Sun, and the Exchange and can be assumed to, if not own slaves, actively endorse slavery organizations throughout the Outer Rim.**

**The other Sith of the Galaxy, with a few exceptions, could be paragons of sainthood or the most evil of evils for all you know.**

Well, that was not helpful, though also not entirely unexpected. After all, why would Lord Gelus be concerned with the moral compass of other Sith lords if she planned to kill them all anyways? Probably easier for her to not know at all, if that was the case. Though something told him she didn't care, either way. The ones that endorsed slave trade were a good start, though, and he would keep their names in mind for when the time came.

And what would he do once those were dead?

He gulped. There was no easy way out of this one, was there?

He plopped himself on his bed, with a forearm resting on one side of his face, covering one of his eyes. He kept looking at the ceiling, just thinking.... Being the sole inheritor of the Sith legacy... did that really sound so bad? After all, he had told Gelus that all he wanted was to have a good time. What better way to do that than amassing such an unbelievable amount of power? Why was he so intimidated and hesitant about this prospect, then? Why was it so scary?

Did he really just want to have a good time?

_Through victory, my chains are broken_

_The Force shall free me._

Freedom...

Was it more valuable than loyalty?

\- - - - - - -

GRMM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GW6yRdpL7Q

**"We have a traitor in our midst. Bring your weapon."**

**Those had been the words spoken to you by Lord Gelus, just an hour prior. Without further explanation she had left you to prepare for her summons, wondering who among you could possibly be the traitor. Nevik, with his wide smile and fondness for Sullustan wine? Ro'vida, who enjoyed played dejarik with you and even on rare occasions the Master herself? Hunk?**

**When you are finally called to your Master's side, you follow her summons to the atrium, amid flowing fountains and gardens of multi-colored plantlife native and non-native to Cadomai Prime. The other servants are gathered as well, murmuring among themselves - you can sense their disquiet in the Force like a low grey buzzing.**

**Within the circle of servants, arms crossed over her chest, stands Lord Gelus with Hunk by her side, a blaster rifle in hand. And at her feet, bound and kneeling...**

**Lyanu.**

**"Apprentice," calls Gelus, through her voice and through the Force. "Come."**

**You obey, walking slowly to her side, your weapon heavy on your back. Once at your place, Gelus, eyes on the crowd, speaks. "Lyanu Nesh. You are found guilty of treason against your employer. Of sending packets of secure data to my rivals, betraying my confidence and my benevolence. For this crime, as all crimes against me warrant, you will be put to death. My servants, let her fate serve as an example to those who think to betray me."**

**"Please, Mistress! I did not want to!" Lyanu begs, tears streaming from her beady eyes. "Darth Anguis, he has my sister!"**

**There is nothing in Lord Gelus' eyes. No rage. No pity. Only a terrible emptiness. She continues as if she had not heard Lyanu at all. "You are judged to execution by blade. My Hand shall lay itself upon you, and you shall pass into the Force. Goodbye, Lyanu Nesh."**

**Gelus turns to you, and in an instant you realize what she expects of you.**

**"Kill her."**

"Oh no," was the only thing the boy muttered after receiving the message, because 'bring your weapon' could only mean one thing in this context. He walked through the mansion halls with a racing heart, hundreds of different scenarios playing out in his head. He hoped that the incoming execution would be truly justified, that the traitor was a duplicitous monster that deserved death.

But of course, it never quite works out that way, does it? He walked through the gardens and towards his master's side, feeling everyone's gazes follow him and, inevitably, his weapon as well. Kill her. One of his ears twitched. A subtle sign of hesitation. His mind wandered back to his first encounter with Lord Gelus, back at the mines.

_“Eat the spider”_ was the command back then. He felt cornered at this moment in much the same way he felt right now. But he had no power back then, and his mind didn't work quite as quickly. And even then, he had managed to turn that situation on its head. Of course, he wasn't going to throw Lyanu at Gelus and run like mad this time...

The boy looked at the kneeling girl, his face serious and grim, purposefully hiding the shock and worry within him. He didn't say anything, because he knew this was not only a demonstration, an example to the servants (and himself), but also a test. A test of loyalty. If he refused to kill the girl out of sympathy, the message he would send to the rest of the servants would cause humiliation for Gelus, and she would kill Lyanu herself, and have a punishment ready for him soon after. That would not do. He had to think, and quickly.

He brought his hand to the hilt of his blade, staring at Lyanu in the eye as the girl pleaded and sobbed. He tried his hardest not to break character as he activated the vibroblade, the slight buzzing of the blade adding to the tension of the gardens. He raised his weapon, staring the girl in the eye, and right when he was about to swing...

"Wait," he muttered, the blade still raised in the air, ready to strike down. "Wait, Master. This could be an opportunity. If what she says is true, and she has this connection to Darth Anguis, this girl could still be of use to us."

**“...In what way.” Your Master asks, so flat as to be more a statement than a question. You think you know her well enough to know she isn’t entirely confident in your motives in suggesting this. But she is giving you the floor.**

**For the moment.**

"Counter-espionage." He turns to look at Gelus, then towards Lyanu again. "Does the Sith lord know that you have been caught?"

**She shakes her head, shivering, then shakes her head again. “No! I mean - I don’t know. I don’t think so.”**

The boy turns back towards Gelus, looking her in the eye, resisting under the immense weight of her empty, terrible gaze. He pressed onward. "We could use her to feed Darth Anguis false information. Pretend our defenses are lowered, tempt his hand into making a move of his own." He makes a pause, letting out a small sigh. He could feel his own heart racing. "When he attacks, we'll be ready. And when we defeat him, the galaxy will know, Master."

**“...” Lord Gelus - Darth Gelus, Dark Lord of the Sith Order - contemplates your suggestion. For a moment, black rage flashes in her molten gaze and you realize she is displeased not only with the situation but with you for questioning her judgement through a counter proposal. Her left index finger twitches, and the Force twitches with it...**

**...but as fast as it appears, the anger disappears, smooth calm replacing the vacancy. Now she seems...almost amused. Her hand relaxes.**

**“Lyanu,” the Snivvian woman looks up at her name, eyes wide and daring to hope. Gelus scowls down at her. “Your life belongs to my apprentice now. He has found a use for you, and you will serve to the best of your ability, or the suffering I inflict on you will be a thing of legend.”**

**Lyanu bows her head, snout to the floor. “Thank you, Master Irah! Thank you, Mistress!”**

**“But.” Gelus smiles. “You will not so easily escape consequence unscathed. You betrayed me. Used your hands to subvert my purposes. And so, you shall forfeit one of them.”**

**Gelus turns to you. “We will take your initiative. Now, remove her hand.”**

**Lyanu, shaking, extends an arm, her shoulders trembling heavily, breathing quick as she tries to prepare herself for the pain to come.**

**All eyes are on you.**

Irah looks at Gelus, letting out a long, yet subdued sigh. Well. Better to be one hand short than dead, right?

Well, time for some theatrics, then. Maybe she would be less furious this way...

"Lord Gelus, and I, we have been fair and benevolent. To all of you," he addresses the other servants. "More than servants, I've come to consider you my friends." He then looks down at Lyanu. "Yet in exchange you chose to follow a path of duplicity, and such a path you will walk from now on."

The boy gives Gelus one final look, unable this time to contain the spark of anger and resentment in his gaze, and he closes his eyes. He raises his blade once more, and after short moment that somehow felt like an eternity, the blade comes down with his full strength behind it. And he feels the tissue come apart, the bone break, and the droplets of blood spill on his own face.

**Lyanu screams, clutching at the stump where her left hand used to be, rolling on the ground as yellow blood spurts onto the floor. Hunk, blaster holstered now, comes and picks her up easily with his droid strength and carries her away to be treated. She wasn’t allowed to die now. She was too valuable.**

**And all the while, Lord Gelus smiles.**

\- - - - - - -

**Two months later, Lord Gelus announces that she will be traveling off-world, Lyanu in tow along with a handful of other servants. You think you know why - she is baiting Darth Anguis into an attack, putting herself away from her stronghold, from Hunk, from you. Your suspicions are confirmed when Hunk tells you that you and he will be going with several mercenaries on a second ship to await a signal, to then ambush the likely ambushers when Anguis makes his move.**

**Hours before you are scheduled to leave, after your Master has already left, you lie in bed and think.**

The boy blinks, his eyes set on the ceiling light as one of his arms rests on his face, covering his right eye.

_Eat the spider._

He flinches. Almost every night for the past two months, he had been dreaming, or having nightmares, more accurately, about either U'ppek, his spider friend, or...

_Kill her._

The screaming. Lyanu's screaming as his blade came down on her hand. It only bothered him slightly that his worst memory of the moment wasn't necessarily dismembering a friend, but that he was forced to do something he really didn't want to. He didn't have a lightsaber on his neck pushing him to do it, but... he kind of did, at least figuratively. If he had fully gone against Lord Gelus's order that day instead of finding a way to tip-toe around it, he wondered if he'd even be alive to think about it that day.

What pained him the most is that he didn't want to feel this way. He cared for Gelus, and deeply. He didn't do things to suck up to her, no. He tried really hard to make her proud, to prove to her that she wasn't wrong about him. And he loved Hunk, too. The past two years had been the best of his life, at least as far as he could remember.

But the feeling he got on that evening... maybe it was unfair to her, cause she had given him so much, but he could see U'ppek's face in Gelus, as she expected him to betray himself to prove loyalty to her. He really wondered if she cared for him in the same way he cared for her, or if she only saw him as one of the pieces in the chess board. And thinking about that tore him inside.

He didn't want to go to this ambush. He was shaken, and twisted with doubt, anger and sadness. It didn't help that so many of the mansion's servants had grown colder towards him. They still treated him well, they still smiled at him, and still had chats and told him some about their lives and families if he asked. But there was fear behind their words. They didn't see him as the boy they could trust anymore. They saw him as the executor of Gelus's ire, even though he took the risk of lighting her fury when he avowed for Lyanu's life.

He hated it. He hated all of it.

He didn't want to go to this ambush. Even if it was technically his idea.

He wasn't ready to face the fate Gelus had been molding him for.

He remembered the way he had acted back in the mine, when U'ppek asked him to eat that spider, and how he acted out of pure impulse to run away. That impulse was coming back. He wanted to fight it, but...

Wasn't that... a form of passion as well?

He squinted at the ceiling light, pressing his fist....

\- - - - - - -

The hangar door opened, way before Hunk and Irah were scheduled to board the carrier ship along with the mercs. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but it didn't matter. He wasn't thinking clearly, and he figured that was going to be as bad if he went on the mission than if he did... whatever the kriff this was.

He looked at the various ships lined up before him, and set his eyes on a small star fighter. He gulped, and then sprinted towards it, carried by pure impulse.

**Your feet carry you to the starfighter, a blue-and-silver arrowhead of a ship with a single cockpit and equipped with an experimental emergency micro-hyperdrive as well as significant firepower. Nobody questions you as you jump into the cockpit and fire up the engines, taught by years of experience flying alongside Hunk in your lessons. You key in your passcode and unlock the controls, ship rising on its thrusters and bulleting out of the hangar and into the Cadomai sky.**

**You’ve never flown farther than low-orbit before, but you understand the theory of space travel and know how to work the hyperdrive and landing systems - that should carry you far enough. As you reach for the navigation controls, a slight tugging asserts itself in the back of your mind. Slight, but recognizable - the Force, dark or light, guiding you towards...**

**Dorin. A planet in the Expansion Region. You recognize it as the home of the Kel Dor, with a hyperspace lane going directly between two black holes to get to the planet. You don’t know why, but something in the Force is urging you to fly there. Perhaps you will be well hidden from Lord Gelus’ inevitable search. Perhaps you will be able to start a new life there. Perhaps...**

Gelus...

_Master..._

She would dismember him if he found him. He pressed his lips, because not only was he now scared of her, but also... he felt guilty. Because they were carrying out a mission with real risks, and he should be there, with her. With Hunk.

But... why did she have to test him with such cruelty? Just like U'ppek had done before her. Why?!

The boy wiped out a tear peeking from one of his eyes, and looked around him and up. Space. The galaxy. This was the first time he was suspended in this darkness by himself, without anyone to guide him or instruct him, or teach him, or tell him what to do. It looked so... empty. But yet, he could feel how it was filled with... something. With emotion, but yet also with tranquility. With the Force. He smiled a little bit, letting out a sigh as he let himself be guided by this mysterious power. There was an odd sense of relief in letting go, in following the path laid before him.

It wasn't long before he came out of hyperspace, and gazed upon Dorin for the first time. He set course straight for the planet's atmosphere, and braced for entry...


	2. Prologue: The Heir to Darkness (Part II)

**Star Wars**

**Lords of the Old Republic**

Prologue: The Heir to Darkness (Part II)

**You fly expertly through Dorin’s atmosphere with a sense of...peace and safety. As if being guided by some higher power, held in its arms and told ’you will be alright.’**

**This, of course, is when the problems begin.**

**Turbulence begins to strike your ship as you pass through the cloud layer, and you realize you are landing in the middle of a storm - a severe one, at that. Arcs of green lightning and heavy winds strike against the hull of your fighter, threatening to jerk control from your hands, but you resist and put your effort towards coming in for a controlled descent. Your sensors tell you there is a settlement not too far away, if only you can reach it...**

**You close your eyes and let the world fall away from you...**

**You fall...fall...**

**Into the Force.**

**In the Force, there is no storm. There is no rain. No turbulence. No ship. There is only you. Your will. Your desire. Your refusal to submit. As you were taught by Lord Gelus, you take the Force by the reins and tell it ’go here.’ And it obeys. You fly without fear or doubt through the storm, following a tugging in the energy field that makes up all living things, until finally you land on a patch of red soil in a valley sparsely populated by alien flora and what appear to be tunnel-digging wildlife in the distance. You have landed before a Temple of some sort, a stone Ziggurat with multiple platforms and energy shields protecting it from the storm’s assault.**

**Recalling from your lessons that Kel Dor come from an atmosphere with minimal oxygen, you pull on a rebreather and throw up the hood of your robes, stepping out onto the planet’s surface, sinking your boots in red sand. As you push onward toward the Ziggurat, mind outstretched through the Force to guide your approach, you can barely make out hooded figures on the steps of the great Temple, staffs in hand that glow with bright light at the tips. They wave them in the air, beckoning you forwards, and take you into the shelter of their home.**

GRMM: https://youtu.be/SwO38f69X9o

**Inside, as your eyes adjust to the light, you see that you are mostly surrounded by robed Kel Dor, absent the antitox masks they wear throughout the rest of the Galaxy. They wear white painted sigils across their foreheads, and each has their eyes on you.**

**One, presumably the leader, steps forward. “It has been a long time since we have had a visitor to our halls. What brings you to our steps in the midst of a storm, traveler?”**

The most prominent thing on Irah's mind was what the hell am I doing here? However, the majesty of the temple had taken his breath away, and soon his guilt was replaced by awe at the sights of this new, unknown planet. He followed the monks into the temple, and once inside, slowly pulled the hood of his robes back, in a gentle motion.

"I..." he stammered. "I don't really know. Fate, I supp-- I guess," he realized he wasn't before Lord Gelus, he could save his proper speech for later. "Or maybe I'm just running from my fate," he chuckled softly, with a hint of self-pity in his face. "Thank you, though. For welcoming me here. The storm is pretty rough out there."

If his short stature wasn't indicative enough, once he spoke, his age was quite evident. "O-oh, I'm sorry. I'm Irah. Irah Th--" Oop. Should he use his real name? Wasn't he supposed to be in hiding? "...Thurve."(edited)

**“Welcome, Irah Thurve,” the leader bows his head. “I am Volso Bakost, Master of the Baran Do Sages. If you will come with me, we are just about to enjoy dinner. I’m sure we can acquaint ourselves better after our bellies have been filled, hmm?”**

**On cue, your stomach growls. You’d left in such a hurry that you’d forgotten to take supplies, and the trip had taken long enough for you to feel quite hungry. Following Master Bakost’s lead, you are taken deeper into the Temple, where the two of you take seats on matts across a short table from one another. Green noodles and a clear drink of some sort are waiting for you, and without further ado the two of you dig in.**

**After you both have eaten your fill, Master Bakost speaks. “You are quite young to be on your own, Irah Thurve. And your choice of words about running away concerns me. What fate are you running from?”**

**He sets his hands in his lap, black eyes glittering in candlelight. “I must be honest, it troubles me to see one so young smelling of the Dark Side.”**

Irah remained quiet for a moment, looking into his half-full cup of... tea? Why did he feel... shame at the monk's question? He felt as if he was being examined without him being able to hide.

"The Dark Side freed me from a life as a slave, Master Volso," he replied without looking the monk in the eyes, then lifted his gaze to the high ceiling of the chamber. The Temple had such a strange atmosphere, one of reverberant, solemn silence. It was something he had once felt in Gelus's mansion, but with the passage of time it had been replaced by what he thought of as the vibrant living of the house staff. He felt a strange, calm emptiness here...

"I felt the Force guide me to this place, I don't yet know why." He finally looked him in the eye. "I am ran away from my own Master, a Sith Lord, after she... well..."

He told the Monk some of his story. How she had prepared a mission for him, and he had ran away before the time of action. He didn't mention any detail, nor did he give him Gelus's name. Not yet.

"I fear she might... kill me. If she finds me." There was hesitation in his words. He wanted to believe she wouldn't. But... could he be sure?

**“Hrmm...” Bakost pours another cup of tea for himself. “You are in need of sanctuary. The halls of the Baran Do are always open to those in need. So long as you do not harm another here, and do not practice the Dark Side, you may stay for as long as you like.” He looks up from his cup, eyeing you over the rim. “I understand that may be difficult for you, given your circumstances. The Dark Side is more addictive than any chem, more corruptive than spice. But you must wean yourself if you are to find the safety you seek.”**

**“But,” Bakost rumbles after taking a drink of his tea. “Perhaps we can assist you in that respect. And help you to find a path more suited to what exists in your heart. Would that be acceptable to you?”**

"I-- yes. Thank you. I am very thankful for you welcoming me in your halls, sir." He bows his head, offering the monk his due respect. "You needn't worry, I would never harm anyone that wished me no harm," he paused, his mind going back to Lyanu's sentence, and gulped. "B-but, Master Bakost..." The boy looks away, evidently a bit embarrassed of his following question. "What... do you mean not practice the Dark Side? Should I... refrain from using the Force entirely while I am here?"

**Bakost chuckles warmly, almost fondly, as if you said something honest but naive. “Not at all. The privilege to know the Force is one granted to few, and it should be encouraged to flourish and be used for good. I could not ask you to abandon the Force - but the Dark Side is not the entirety of the Force. It is the abscess, the polluted way, the glitterstim that heightens the senses for a time then drags you down into disarray. But there is another way to understand the Force. A gentler way.”**

**He studies you for a long moment. Nods at what he sees. “I can show you the way, Irah Thurve, if you are willing to walk it.”**

Irah looks the man in the eye for a moment, resisting the impulse to tell him that what he had learned so far had made him strong, that the Dark Side had empowered him, and made him feel like he was worth more than a Bantha. That he could be someone.

But he knew better. And he was also curious, and vulnerable. Very vulnerable, at least for the time being.

"It's not... ahem..." he sighs. "It's not Thurve. I... I thought it would be better if I hid without using my real name, but... thought about it a little bit too late. My name is Irah Thal, Master Bakost. I, um...." He bows his head. "I apologize."

**“Honesty is a good start,” Bakost nods approvingly. “Though I understand why you felt the need to disguise yourself.”**

**“We will wait until the storm has passed. Then, if you are amenable, we may begin helping you to unlearn what you have learned...”**

Unlearn. He felt a pit in his stomach. Would he... lose his power? He remained silent for a moment, considering the implications of the proposal. He did wonder what they had to say. To teach him... He looked down, gazing upon the remains of his tea.

Kill her.

He pressed his hands tighter against the cup.

"Thank you, Master Bakost. Tomorrow sounds good." He smiled weakly, evidently unsure, but amenable, as the monk had hoped.

\- - - - - - -

GRMM: <https://youtu.be/X6JXQ-ZnrbE>

**The next day, the storm abates, and you are allowed to see Dorin as it exists when not in the midst of environmental turmoil: a dark, dusty place, yet not frightening despite the descriptors. Rather, it feels ancient, wizened, and teeming with old thoughts and knowledge.**

**You sit at the top of the Temple spire with Master Bakost, resting in a meditative position. Bakost hums, face upturned to the sun. “You have learned much of how to apply the Force in battle. To sink into rage, fear, hate, and turn the poison into a weapon against your foes. But the Force is not meant to be a tool for death, for it is life. To wield the Force as more than a measure of grace, in defense of others, is to subvert the purpose of being allowed to feel it.”**

**“Close your eyes. I want you to examine yourself. Your fears. Your anger. Your mistakes. Imagine the Force as a current, streaming through you, washing you clean of doubt and impurity. And then...let go of all that you hold on to.”**

The boy sat with his eyes closed, as instructed, listening attentively. There was something... strange in this Temple. A place of power, perhaps? He didn't know, but the quiet, yet majestic setting for the spire made it feel like they were sitting at the peak of an ocean simultaneously empty and chock full of... something. Of life? Of being. It resonated with him, and made his thoughts more vivid, his memories more lifelike.

Fear...

The image of Gelus immediately popped into his mind, with her terrible, cold fury haunting him for the transgression of abandoning her. But the thought soon turned on its head, thinking what could have happened to her while he was away. What if she was... hurt? Or worse? And he was sitting there meditating.

Worthless.

 _"Less than a bantha's ass."_ The boy's eyes twitched.

_"You will achieve greatness. Never doubt that it is within you."_

_"Kill her."_

_Why? Why would you ask this of me? Of me? Why can't you kill her yourself?_

_"Eat the spider."_

_You know why, silly. It's a test. Everything is a test._

"Less than a bantha's ass."

Anger…

What was it that he wanted? The passion that drove his dreams, that made his heart burn with determination, that powered all that he had learned of The Force? What was it, really? After two years, had he finally found the real drive of his heart?

"I want to have more..." a voice inside him spoke. Back at the peak of the Temple, pebbles and dirt around him trembled lightly, shifting in their place.

_More what?_

"More..."

_More what?_

"I want… everything."

_No._

"I want to not be afraid..."

_Don't you see? That's impossible. You will always be afraid._

He pressed his eyes harder, and ever so slightly, his fingers clawed at his knees more and more. A visible sparkle of blue electricity arched from his shoulder, with an audible, yet subdued zap.(edited)

**As the storm gathering within you grows ever more wild and untamed, so too does a storm grow outside - arcs of electricity curl between your fingertips, pebbles and dirt swirl as if caught in a great wind, and the light in the air around you appears almost to grow dimmer. Bakost’s voice calls you from a great distance, barely audible over the raging hurricane in your mind.**

**_Irah, come back to yourself._ ** **A voice murmurs in your head. Master Bakost’s voice, carried through the Force, bringing with it a sense of...calm. Artificial, separate from the emotions of your own making, but pressed against them nonetheless like a bandage to a wound, soaking up the excess and allowing you to breathe again.**

**You open your eyes to see that there are tiny scorch marks in the ground around you, and cracks in the stone of the Temple spire. Bakost is frowning, his hand on your shoulder. “So much pain. Too much for one so young. You have lived a difficult life, Irah Thal. For that, you have my empathy.”**

**Withdrawing his touch, the old Master sighs and reaches up to stroke his chin. “Perhaps this was too much to expect so soon. You have had years to learn to hold on to your hurts. They have taken deep root within your spirit, and to remove them hastily will only cause you deeper harm. We must proceed more slowly.”**

**He smiles, an idea coming to him. “Perhaps there is another way...though it will require some trust. I ask that you allow me to reach into your mind.”**

The boy felt like a study case at that moment, which made him somewhat uncomfortable. However, there was sincerity in the monk's words and intentions, he could feel it. There was a... warmth to his tone and his touch, one that he had never, ever felt before. The closest thing was Hunk's classes. But this was... different.

"W-what will you look for in there?" The boy asks, looking down. He didn't want Master Bakost to see some things he had done.

**“Hope.” Bakost answers simply.**

Irah looks up with a bit of surprise. After a moment of doubt, he simply nods in acceptance, shifting in his place to face the monk.

GRMM: <https://youtu.be/mDSWq4JNo7Q>

**“Relax your thoughts. I am a friend, and I shall not harm you.”**

**Master Bakost reaches out with both hands and sets them on either side of your head, fingertips hovering a centimeter apart from physically touching you. He closes his eyes, and you follow suit, and the two of you sit for a time in silence, waiting for...you don’t know what.**

**It begins as a gentle prodding in your head. A kind of...knocking, as if asking permission for entry. You do your best to relax yourself and think - you may enter - and focus on the idea of being open, relaxed, and willing, until the prodding is replaced by a sort of warm sensation like slipping into a bath. The warmth travels through your brain, down your spine, and towards your heart...and you begin to breathe in sync with the Kel Dor Master, your stances identical against the Dorin sun.**

**In your mind’s eye, you remember the spider. Her many beady eyes. Her tiny hops and flails. The sense of companionship she offered as she slept in your pocket during lonely nights. The glitterstim she produced, and the comforts it brought you.**

**You remember the first time you enjoyed a fine meal with Gelus, and she told you that greatness was in your destiny with such certainty that you believed it yourself.**

**You remember Hunk. Days spent with the servants of Gelus’ castle, talking and smiling and sharing life together.**

**But those memories were tinged with darkness now. Pain. Fear. Regret. And although you relish their sweetness, the bitterness that comes with it nearly takes you out of the trance altogether.**

**_Remember..._ ** **whispers Bakost in your mind, and in reality. Remember the time when you were simply happy and nothing else.**

"It hurts..." the boy whispers weakly, his hands shaking over his lap. But his thoughts didn't stop. His mind went back to a time when he was happy and nothing else, and he remembered something, a voice, vague, muddy even, but warm and gentle, calling out his name as he sat in a clearing covered in flowers amidst a green, lush jungle. But everything was covered by this bright, shimmering gloom that made it impossible to truly recall anything. But he felt happy then. He didn't know why.

In his memory, he turned to look in the direction the voice came from, and in its stead he saw _her_. Master Gelus, offering him one of her rare, subdued, but still somewhat gentle smiles. He remembered that day, when Hunk had taught him how to ride on a speeder for the first time. He got the hang of it right away, and it was one of the few times Gelus had been present in his lessons, who knows why she had the time that day. It didn't matter. The wind on his face as he picked up speed, he remembered that feeling. Feeling like he could go anywhere. The rush of seeing everything fly past. And despite the velocity, he never once felt that he wasn't in control. It was his ride.

 _I thought I could simply be happy,_ he thought _. But it never lasts long, does it?_

Gelus's smile transformed into her cold, furious gaze, a sunset shining behind her like flames. _Am I just a tool to her? Am I just..._

_...Her hand?_

Permitted to outlive the rest of the Sith only by her permission. Forever behind her...

Tears rolled down the boy's face without him noticing. Remembering the happiness in his life always brought him down a road that led to sadness, disappointment and fear. Was that happiness even real? Or was it just a lie he had told himself?

**_It was real, Irah._ ** **A voice assures you gently, though you can hardly remember who it belongs to. _Your tears are the proof._**

**The vision fades, and you find yourself back in your body on the spire of the Baran Do Temple. Master Bakost removes his hands from your head and wipes a tear from his eye, breathing in deeply. “There is beauty inside you, Irah. Not merely pain and sorrow. That memory is merely one of many - past and future. Happiness is never guaranteed, and it is by definition fleeting, but it is always true. But it must be chased after relentlessly, and to attempt to carry the weight of your regrets and fears in your arms as you pursue it is the same as sailing a ship with an anchor trailing behind you.”**

**He exhales and rises to his feet, pensive. “That will be all for today, I think. Tomorrow we will practice meditation again, and see if we cannot divine a new path for you to walk. Away from the darkness you find yourself in now.”**

The boy sniffles as he feels himself return to the real world, the warmth disappearing and leaving a strange emptiness in its wake. He nods rapidly at Master Bakost's words, half listening, half processing what had just happened.

"Th-thank you, sir," he mutters, trying his best to control himself. But a new tear rolls down his face, as his teeth shake. He sniffles again, and then sinks his head in his palms, sobbing quietly.

He missed her. He missed Gelus, the woman that took him in and made him see greatness in his future. The woman that was interested in _him_ , in an apprentice. Not the woman who wanted to conquer the entire galaxy.

But he realized now, they had always been one and the same.

\- - - - - - -

**True to his word, the next day Master Bakost comes to you to begin your next lesson. This time, he imparts onto you some history.**

**“The unknowing say that the Baran Do are sages who can see the future. That we take the measure of approaching history from the signs of the present and past. This is only partly true. Always in motion is the future, and the Baran Do no more predict it than a gambler predicts a winning bet at the card table. We merely trust in the Force to guide us along the correct path, and understand that there is no fate but what is made for ourselves. This holds true for you as well, Irah. Although the past cannot be changed, the present is your means by which you may decide your future. That is why we meditate, why we seek guidance from the Force, to make choices that will see us to our best endings.”**

**“But the Dark Side will deceive you should you rely on it to guide your footsteps. It will push you onto the path of violence, of heartbreak and cruelty. It is a venom that once imbibed, creeps its way into your heart and stops it cold. There is no happiness in a life lived in shadow. Can you see this?”**

The boy ponders this for a moment, sitting in lotus with his head hanging somewhat low. "I... don't know if I know anything else, Master. I was taught to follow my passion and my emotions, and that has brought me happiness in itself... I think. Though, if I'm honest, I... I don't really know yet where my passions truly lie. What I want for my future... I've been content and comfortable following my Master's, but where she wants to go... I don't know if I'm strong enough to go with her." He makes a long pause, evidently wanting to say more, but restraining himself for a bit.

"I don't want to betray her, but I also fear what her intentions are."

**"Happiness at a delayed, yet steep price," Bakost corrects. "A price that proved too much for you to bear in the end. You are here, after all, and not by your former Master's side."**

**He ponders your admission, stroking his chin. "Without having met her myself, I cannot speak as to her intentions. But it is the way of the Sith to betray - to betray others, surely, but themselves as well. The deeper into the dark path one sinks, the more it perverts what were once, perhaps, righteous intentions, honest feelings and thoughts. Even if you believe her to care for you on some level, you must understand that such feelings can only express themselves in ways that are ultimately to her own benefit. It is not in a true Sith's nature to be selfless."**

**Bakost lowers his hand from his chin, placing it on his lap. Appearing thoughtful, he reaches into the pack he had brought with you to this session and pulls out a small wooden bowl, as well as a container of tea. "Passion..." he murmurs, unscrewing the lid of the container and filling the bowl to the brim. "The Jedi believed that passion was one of many first steps on the road to the Dark Side. It is why they forbid it within their ranks, as a greater precept against the ties of attachment. A Jedi would tell you that the pursuit of passion is dangerous and self-consuming, and that it will only leave you ravenous and unfulfilled in the end."**

**The Kel Dor shakes his head disapprovingly. "But the Baran Do do not believe as such. Passion exists in all sapient lifeforms. It is what drives us to reach higher, to push ourselves a little bit further. Without passion, we would be as droids, merely fulfilling our functions and absent will of our own. What matters is what you direct your passions towards."**

**Bakost sprinkles some flakes of a powdery substance into the bowl and it begins to steam, the scent of flowers touching your nose. He pushes it towards you. "The Baran Do have many methods through which we attempt to divine the paths of the future. The purest is meditation, release of the self into the Cosmic Force. But you are yet a novice, and beset by turmoil - should you attempt to look into the future as you are now, you would see only darkness and despair. For the Force is willing to show us what we need to see, but if we are not careful, it will show us only what we fear to see."**

**"Breathe in the fumes. They will relax your mind, open your spirit to the currents of the Force. Then, peer into the bowl and focus on your passions. Let the Force help you to know what they could be."**

The master's words were evidently hurtful to the boy, not because he was being cruel, but because he had these thoughts himself ever since the day he was asked to be an executor. He wondered if Lord Gelus herself ever made the connection between her orders and U'ppek’s. She might have forgotten about that incident already, but it was a moment that marked his life forever. The moment when it had been enough. The fact that she'd, maybe unintentionally mimicked it had led him into thinking she only cared for him as her legacy, and not as, well, him.

Was that truly the way of the Sith?

He listened to Bakost intently as he prepared his ingredients, learning more of the Jedi. Irah always thought the Jedi sounded like a bunch of boring gasholes, never really thinking that the texts he read about them might have been a little biased.

Finally, Irah looks at the bowl, then at Bakost, then at the bowl again. He wasn't sure he wanted to do this, but... if this thing would help him find his true purpose, maybe it was worth it. And so, he breathed in, bracing himself to get lost in the confines of his own demons, something he hadn't particularly enjoyed recently.

GRMM: <https://youtu.be/qVUgEHNSuh0>

**You inhale the smoke, letting it settle deep within your lungs...and almost immediately you can feel your thoughts begin to...sort of...float away from you. Your eyes droop, and your shoulders relax, and the world around you begins to dim.**

**”Focus, Irah...focus on the future...”**

**You lean over and peer into the bowl, seeing only your own reflection, swaying slightly either from your own movements or the effects of the steam on your vision. But there was...wait. Something was different. Not quite right.**

**You see...yourself, yes. But not just yourself. You are older - at least in your twenties. Your fur has darkened slightly, and you are taller, broader shouldered and muscular with a lightsaber clipped to your belt - a saberstaff, like the weapon of Exar Kun himself.**

**The water grows dark, black like a pool of liquid obsidian, until you see stars glittering within. A spider - your spider - hops between them and strings together a web of glitterstim, that assembled into the shape of a young Human woman, clothed in the garb of a slave. The webs disintegrate, and the image with them.**

**More images, rapid flashes rather than extended looks - a glowing forest, a planet of machinery, a giant sea monster, a severed hand lying on a floor, Lord Gelus’ face, the whirring of a blaster. You are -**

**_“Join me, Irah Thal, and have power everlasting.”_ **

**You awaken with a start. The liquid in the bowl has vanished, and the sky has grown dark. You’ve been gone for hours. Master Bakost waits patiently for you to recompose yourself, offering a cup of tea. “You appear startled, Irah. Visions can often be confusing, even frightening for first timers. I hope you saw more than either of those things in your mind.”**

The boy was visibly confused, somewhat shaken, but not in a fully negative, fearful way. He simply saw... so much. He had no idea what to make out of it all. It gave him the feeling that his future held something far beyond what he could even comprehend at the moment, far beyond being sad because his parent figure might not really love him. It made him feel small, but at the same time, relieved in a strange way. There was more to his life than his current weakness, and his current pains. So much more. Even if it meant new hardships would come, knowing there was more eased him a little.

He smiled a bit, both scared and excited to find out what any of all those visions meant.

"At least now I know I'll make it past twenty," the boy joked with a light chuckle, "or at least I think.”

He had managed to regain some of his optimism, as he weirdly felt a weight lift off his shoulders, even though now he knew for certain that Gelus would find him. Maybe.... maybe things wouldn't be as bad as he feared. Maybe she'd forgive him. Maybe she... did care. Despite Bakost's warning, he found it almost impossible not to cling to that tiny glimmer of hope.

He looked at the now empty bowl. "I saw... myself, older. I had a lightsaber!" He exclaimed that last part with excitement. "And I saw a bunch of other things. I saw a woman... a slave." Pause. He became a bit pensive. "Just like I was... And also a bunch of places that I've never seen before. I saw master Gelus, and..."

He went quiet, then smiled sadly.

"I think... our fates are bound after all. Hers and mine." Irah looked up at the monk sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Master Bakost. I don't know if you can... cleanse me. But... I will try my hardest to learn from you. I am now sure that there's a reason the Force brought me here." He looked back down at the empty bowl, and nodded with a smile on his face. "Yes. I know it..."

**“I am sorry too, Irah,” Bakost seems saddened by your takeaway, sighing softly. “It seems I must take my own advice. The Force has shown you what you need to see, but unfortunately not what I hoped you could see.”**

**“...” a hint of a smile. “Still, although your path may yet be beset by darkness, that does not mean there is not light at the end of it. Perhaps it is my duty to prepare you to weather the journey, as we weather the storms of this world. And...” his eyes crinkle. “It is a sight to see you smile. It is good to know that such a thing is not lost to you.”**

\- - - - - - -

**For the next several weeks, you practice naught but meditation and introspection. It is not the most exciting of training, nothing like the varied holo-lessons bestowed on you by Hunk, or the frenzied melee instruction given to you by Lord Gelus, but there is a certain...peace, to it. And companionship, for Master Bakost joins you each time, the two of you discussing various matters trivial and large. He shares with you some of his past, and how he came to be the Master of his Order: Dorin is flanked closely in its system by two black holes, and as a member of the Baran Do he came to see a vision that those black holes would shift and render the hyperlanes to the planet useless, cutting off important trade supply and sending the planet into a resource crisis.**

**He sank deep into the Force and meditated ceaselessly for a week, and at the end of it divined a new hyperspace route that ensured his planet would not starve - the same route you took to get here. For his actions, he was named the new head of the Baran Do, a title he has kept for forty-three of his seventy-two years.**

**“I was not considered to be particularly great in the ways of far sight, and my talent in the Force average, yet my people now accredit me for saving the planet. Know this, Irah - even the smallest moth-fly may bat its wings and stir a hurricane. This is a lesson a Sith would not teach you - that all life, not merely those born with strength, holds greatness within them. Circumstance dictates our opportunities as much as our own will, if not more.”**

**Three months into your stay and you have succeeded in attaining more visions, though they remain fragmentary and rarely so vivid as your first. Glimpses of an army of droids, Lord Gelus in battle against unknown foes, a cave of crystals, a world of storms. Although you cannot discern their ultimate meaning, you know them to be important places in your future.**

**On your fourth month, Bakost takes you to the walled stables adjacent to the Temple. Inside are rows of four-legged riding animals with two sets of jaws and ridged spines along their scaled flesh. “These are our means of travel to the nearby cities, gifted to the Baran Do by the government. They are called Tu’naka - wind beasts, named for their speed.”**

**He pets one gently on the snout and gestures for you to follow. You both walk down the row of stables to the end, where one is open. A Tu’naka lay breathing heavily on the floor, fluid leaking from its mouths and nose, eyes sluggishly turning to meet you as you enter. Bakost turns to you. “Sometimes our steeds become sick. It is up to us to tend to them, for they serve us faithfully and deserve our respect. The Baran Do have medicine we use more often than not, but this one’s infection is particularly stubborn. A touch of the Force is needed.”**

**He directs you to kneel beside the steed and place your hand on her chest. “Imagine the life within her body as a flickering light,” Bakost directs you. “Imagine your life, a roaring flame. Now imagine those flames interlinking, sharing heat, until the two are even. Let your imagination guide the Force...”**

GRMM: <https://youtu.be/sLI97nZuWco>

**Hand on the lizard beast, you close your eyes and concentrate on the image Bakost described. Two flames, interlinked, sharing their energies...**

**You feel the Tu’naka, feel its two strong hearts, it’s lungs, feel the strength in its legs. The link between the two of you runs true and unbroken, the currents of the Force as real in its body and soul as in your own. You push a little of your own essence inside, feel it mix with the beast’s own, and the Tu’naka’s breathing begins to grow smoother, less congested. You continue to trickle your life energies, the energies of the Living Force, into its body, until you begin to feel fatigued and stop.**

**Master Bakost nods at your efforts, reaching out to stroke the Tu’naka. “Her fever has broken, and I can sense her unease has been relieved. You have done well. The energies of the Living Force are not easy for all to touch, but they are the purest energy of life itself and can be used to accelerate healing of the sick and injured, as you have so demonstrated. While greater scholars and acolytes can heal through use of pure Force, the easiest way for an initiate like yourself is to transfer your own living essence into the receptacle you choose.”**

**“I wished to show you this, Irah, to prove that the Force is not merely a tool to dominate and destroy. It is life - the giving of life, healing, and wisdom. And those who use it as such become a conduit for all that is natural and good in this universe.”**

With wonder in his eyes, the boy smiles gently at the Tu'naka, caressing one of its sides, and nodding as he takes in Bakost's words. He didn't know this could be possible. Healing others through the Force. Well... he knew it was possible, mentioned in texts that talk about even bringing the dead back to life, but he always thought this was something only the greatest of Sith could do. That he, a mere apprentice, could bring relief and health to the sick and weakly...

"Thank you, master Bakost," the boy speaks sincerely as he continues to pet the animal for a bit longer. He then tries to stand up, but as he does he feels his vision go blurry and staggers onto a nearby wall, holding himself from falling. "O-oh, haha. I guess it doesn't come without a price."

**“The relationship of a true Master of the Force is one of equivalent exchange. You give of yourself, and are so given in return. Choices and consequences. Balance.” Bakost helps you steady yourself, keeping a firm hand on your shoulder. You feel a slight tingling, and then...your energy returns!**

**The old Master gives you a wink.**

The boy looks at the monk with surprise, but then chuckles. "I wonder if the Force will agree with an old man giving his energy to a vigorous, dashing young man, though."

**“I am quite ‘vigorous’, thank you very much,” Bakost huffs, with humor in his eyes. “Why, just the other day I - “**

**He pauses. Frowns. “...Hm. How unfortunate.”**

**The old monk turns to you, bowing apologetically. “If you’ll excuse me for a time, Irah, I must see to certain preparations. Time is of the essence.”**

**He departs swiftly from your sight, leaving you alone in the stables...**

**Shortly thereafter, you watch as the Temple’s two dozen monks, minus Master Bakost, climb on to their steeds and ride off into the distance. They all stop to bid a brief, but sincere farewell to you, wishing you luck on your journey before undertaking their own.**

**Bakost oversees the proceedings until the Temple is empty, save for you and he. The two of you stand at the steps to the Ziggurat, waiting for...whatever is coming.**

**“I had your ship prepared before the final sages left for shelter,” Bakost rumbles, hands folded behind his back as he watches the skies. “If you wish to leave, you should do so now. She is coming.”**

A huge pit forms in Irah's stomach, and his first thought is to take his ship and run away, wherever the Force would guide him. But then he remembers his vision, and his own words...

_Our fates are bound after all._

With a determined gaze, he shakes his head slowly, standing beside Master Bakost. "No, I... shouldn't. I mean... I want to, but, you know? The Force brought me here for a reason. And I think that reason was to meet you, Master Bakost. You showed me that there is a future, even if mine is beside Lord Gelus. I..." He pauses, looking at his hands, which were shaking ever so slightly. "I was able to heal that tu'naka. I learned to have compassion for those who are weaker thanks to you. Maybe there is something for me other than darkness and pain. Maybe there is yet something I can do to change my Master's fate." He squints his eyes, pressing his hand into a fist. "To keep her from falling into the fate of all Sith..."

The boy looks up at the sky, fearful, yet eager to see the ship come into the atmosphere. "No matter what her intentions were, she gave me the chance to be free, gave me food and shelter, educated me." With a sad smile, he turns back towards the Monk, "I won't give up on her. Not again. But... she can be ruthless, Master Bakost. I... I have to go meet her alone."

**“I...expected that you would say that,” the monk nods slowly, eyes closed. “May the Force be with you, Irah Thal. It was a pleasure.”**

Irah's face lights up with a big smile. "I won't forget you, Master Bakost. I shall hope the Force will bring us together once more."

He turns, facing the sky, and closing his eyes. He concentrates, looks, trying to find her. He takes a deep breath, and says one last goodbye to master Bakost. It's time...

The boy starts walking forward, bracing himself for the storm.

GRMM: <https://youtu.be/xaOAw4A-KGI>

**A familiar ship breaks atmosphere and rapidly finds it way in front of you, settling down with a heavy thrumming of thrusters and the growl of a turbo-engine coming to a steady idling. You feel her within - Gelus, waiting at the airlock.**

**The loading ramp hisses and falls down, and then she is there, in your sight, for the first time in four months. She looks...exactly as you’d left her. Same dark robes. Same face-paint. Same molten yellow-orange eyes, looking down at you with an unreadable expression.**

**“Apprentice.”**

Irah's heart races as the ramp opens, and he can feel a drop of sweat run down his face when he feels Gelus's penetrating gaze on him. However, he was.... glad? To see that she was in one piece.

"M-master, I..."

_I am glad that you're well._

He swallowed his words, looking to the side instead.

**“Enjoying your time among the farseers, I see.” Gelus remarks in a flat monotone. “Are they to blame for your treachery, apprentice?”**

He gulped. "No, Master, I..."

He paused, breathed deeply. "I-I.... was scared. Of the mission, of fighting, of... everything." This conversation had gone much better when he had practiced it in his head during the past few weeks, but now, he felt his eyes slowly get wetter and wetter. "I didn't know what to do, so I... ran. It was the Force that brought me here." He felt his hands shaking. "I'm... sorry, Master."

**“‘Sorry’ is not a word in a Sith’s vocabulary,” her eyes narrow. *You disgust me. I thought you intentionally betrayed me. Used the servant to lure me away into a trap while you slunk away. But you couldn’t even manage that. Despite all I have tried to teach you of power, of strength, of will, you remain consumed by weakness and fear. You are nothing.”**

**Her eyes turn to the Temple, and her lightsaber flickers into her hand. “And now you will reap the consequences.”**

**She marches past you as though you are not there, headed for the Temple.**

**For Bakost, who sits in meditation and waits.**

Gelus's words cut right through what little optimism Irah had amassed for himself, and when the lightsaber lights up, he braces for retribution, pressing his eyes shut...

But then she walks right past him, and he realizes her intentions.

Panicked, he turns back, seeing master Bakost in the distance. Consumed by weakness and fear, she said. Yes, maybe... maybe she was right. But it was time now to cast the fear aside. Show her his will, even if it would only enrage her more.

"Then punish me!" The boy shouts, with zero hesitation in his voice. "Why is it always those weaker than me that must be hurt or killed in my name? By my hand?! It was.... it was just as U'ppek did..."

**“I _am_ punishing you,” Gelus replies coldly, never breaking her stride toward the sitting Kel Dor sage. She looms over him, saber in hand, and scowls. “You were expecting me, yet you chose to remain behind. Foolish.”**

**“I have little to fear from one such as you,” Master Bakost replies blandly, eyes closed. “You may destroy me, but you will never dominate me. You are merely a lost child of Nar Shaddaa, visiting on others the echoes of a revenge long fulfilled.”**

**Gelus flicks her saber’s point upward, holding it under Bakost’s chin. “Your eyes see little, for a sage of the Baran Do. Perhaps I should cut them out and gift them to my apprentice, that he may remember you.”**

**“Do as you must. My spirit is ready.”**

**Gelus raises her saber, cocked and ready to release in a wicked arc that will remove Volso Bakost’s head from his shoulders.**

**Despite it all, the old Master is smiling. “Irah, good luck.”**

**“...” Gelus’ eyes narrow. She looks from him back to you, lightsaber hissing in her hand. Her scowl deepens. “My apprentice wishes to take your punishment for himself. His compassion for you is a weakness I find stomach churning.”**

**“He is not yet lost to the Dark as you are.”**

**“...” she smirks. “For now. You dared to interfere with matters beyond your station, seer. Now witness the consequences.”**

**Right hand crackling with arcs of purple energy, Gelus raises her arm and projects a blinding web of Force lightning...at you.**

**Your legs give away instantaneously. You fall to the ground, convulsing, unable to breathe, unable to scream, for all that a million screams claw at the inside of your throat. Your fur begins to burn, the smell of smoke filling your nostrils, the taste of blood in your nose.**

**“Enough!” Bakost barks, but there is desperation in his voice. “Leave the boy alone!”**

**“You have no power here, seer.” Gelus hisses, the lightning intensifying. Your vision begins to go dark. You feel yourself slipping away...**

**And then, the pain stops. You struggle to breathe for several seconds until finally you are able to drag in a shuddering lungful, barely able to move from your position on the ground.**

**Gelus’ hand remains outstretched toward you, fingertips smoking. There is a strange look on her face as she looks at her own hand. Almost...shocked.**

**Without further word, she walks away from Bakost to you, and the old Master rises to his feet, a protest on his lips. “Do not -“**

**Absently, Gelus flicks her hand and Bakost is flung across the ground, rolling to a stop with a grunt of pain. Your Master looms above you with lightsaber ignited, her eyes wide. You both exist in that moment for several seconds, victim and victimizer, waiting for some unknown cue.**

**She blinks. Gelus’ saber hisses off, returned to her robes. Face blank, she steps over you, walking to The Kyrat Pearl. “Apprentice. Come.”**

Irah coughs coarsely as he is barely able to roll on the floor, feeling himself fleeting between the frontier of life and death. He faces upwards just in time to see Gelus's expression, one he had never seen before in her. His body was so numb from the pain that he couldn't feel the tears rolling down his face as she walked past him.

"I... I c-can't... move..." he groans as he tries his hardest to stand, unable to. He looks one last time at master Bakost in the distance, and smiles very, very weakly. He managed to save him from Gelus's wrath. At least his benefactor in his moment of need hadn't died for him.

**You feel a solid grip around your midsection, and without effort you are lifted telekinetically into the air, floating behind Gelus as she walks into the ship.**

**Your last sight of Master Bakost is him pulling himself to his feet, a sorrowful look in his eyes as you vanish up the loading ramp and into the bowls of the Pearl.**

**Gelus floats you into the med bay, depositing you onto a bed. “Stay.” She commands, as if you were capable of running at all. She swiftly exits the room, and you hear, feel, the engine thrumming as it carries the space yacht into the sky, into space, away from Dorin.**

**You don’t know how long you lay there, entire body beaten and aching, fingers occasionally twitching beyond your control, but you close your eyes and when you open them Gelus is there standing over you with a hand centimeters from your head.**

**“Your injuries are not permanent,” she notes, removing her hand from your space. “Neither is the pain. But the lesson you have learned today will be, apprentice,” her eyes take on a menacing glow. “Or I will return to that planet and kill every single occupant on that Temple. I will hunt them down, no matter how far or wide they run, and I will make you _watch_.”**

**She turns on her heel and walks away, leaving you alone...or so you think, as Hunk comes into view with a tray of food and needles filled with unknown fluid. He sets the tray beside your bed and looks you over, photoreceptors clicking _. ”Relieved Statement: It is a pleasure to see you intact, Irah. Although the tracker on your ship informed us of your location immediately, I was not privy to Lord Gelus’ observations of your time among the monks. Did you enjoy your excursion?”_**

The boy groans as he lifts himself to sit up, smiling at Hunk. "Hey, buddy." A sigh. "I.... did, yeah. They were very..."

A pause, longer than he would've wanted, forms as his smile turns sad and melancholy. "They were very kind to me." He looks down, falling silent for a moment. "How did the ambush on Darth Whatshisface go?"

**_”Melancholy Explanation: Unfortunately, our forces were slightly too ill-equipped to fully destroy the enemy’s forces - Darth Anguis and his apprentice escaped with their lives, though Lord Gelus did inflict grievous wounds on him.”_ **

**Hunk injects a needle into your arm. _”Explanation: This will ensure no long term nerve degradation from the effects of the Master’s lightning. You will require your full faculties, after all, now that you have returned to us.”_**

**Another injection. _”Additional Remark: And this is a muscle relaxant and healing stimulant, to encourage your body to begin repairs quickly.”_**

**Hunk finishes his treatments and turns to leave. Pauses at the door. Turns. _”Query: Irah, why did you leave us?”_**

The boy winces a bit at the needles being unceremoniously injected into his arms, but doesn't say much. So the ambush failed, huh... He wondered if it had been successful had he been there. He also wondered, more importantly, if anyone from the staff had been hurt. Or died...

He sat up, and brought his knees closer to his chest, hugging them slightly. "I didn't want to leave you, buddy, just..."

_'I will return to that planet and kill every single occupant on that Temple. I will hunt them down, no matter how far or wide they run, and I will make you watch.'_

"... I wanted to run away. From everything. From the mission, from the Master's plans of... killing every last Sith. But more so because I realize now that I... I think I never truly earned any freedom." He leans back, looking at the lights of the medbay, lost in thought. "I like living here, with all the food and the nice things. I do. But the price for it..."

Lyanu's screams came rushing back to his head, followed by the memory of the unsurmountable pain from the electrocution, and he pressed his eyes shut. "...Don't worry, pal. I don't think I can ever leave again, even if I wanted to..."

**_”Statement: I understand.”_ **

**Hunk approaches slowly as your eyes begin to droop, the relaxant kicking in. The droid looms over you, head cocked. _”Query: Would you like a story to pass the time, Irah? I understand most Human and Near-Human species enjoy being read to as they fall asleep.”_**

Irah chuckles sluggishly, raising one hand to pat the droid on his head. "Sure, buddy. Show me what you got..."

He half-listened as everything started getting blurry. His mind constantly tried wandering back to Gelus and her words, on how the happiness he had lived through the past 2 years was now forever tainted with this new reality. He felt awful, like a part of his innocence had remained trapped in Dorin, stranded forever. Yet his mind found it hard to linger on the thought to long, as his circled in a cycle of resentment until his eyes could barely keep themselves open...

 _You are not yet lost to the dark, Irah Thal..._ He could hear master Bakost trying to call to him as the lights dimmed, but barely. Just barely...

Then it all went black.

**_”Dramatic Opening Statement: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...”_ **


End file.
